


The Team of Twelve

by TheOnlyOrigamiDinosaurLeft



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Case Fic, Gen, Jack/Ianto established, M/M, No spoilers (not many anyway), and fluff, dont expect a butt load of romance-y stuff tho, set sometime in s2, team torchwood being team torchwood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-06
Updated: 2016-07-11
Packaged: 2018-05-18 16:14:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 26,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5934775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOnlyOrigamiDinosaurLeft/pseuds/TheOnlyOrigamiDinosaurLeft
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Owen and Ianto had been manning the computers one night and noticed an anomaly in the readings. Not something large enough to register as rift activity, but possibly large enough for something to slip through. If that something was sentient and had high level tech. And that wasn't likely, so they ignored it and went back to bitching about Torchwood and drinking coffee. </p><p>The next night Tosh was on computer watching, so she went home with her handheld and got into bed. At 2am, Tosh was reading an UNIT paper on alien tech and sipping tea until her monitor beeped and she saw the same thing.</p><p>Something is coming for Cardiff, and they know what they are doing. The question is, do Torchwood?</p><p>(EDIT: Completed story )</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Cardiff city centre, 3am.

A busty young women in a short skirt and high heels leans against a chip shop door and yells at a man wearing a suit. 

“Oi mate, you ain’t got a fag ‘ave you. I absolutely gaggin’. I gotta few quid but not enough for a pack.” 

The man shakes his head, but offers her a small smile. She grins.

“You look lonely love. Not go anyone at ‘ome for you then?” 

“No, I’m fine thanks.”

Looking a little upset, the woman walks closer to him.

“Who you waitin’ on then? I just got kicked outta that club there. I got a bit too loud and annoyin’ apparently. But that ain’t my fault, cus Linda was throwing vodka, literally, and this is a new dress, so I shoved ‘er in the bar. Then I had to come out ‘ere to grab a fag and go ‘ome. Then I bumps into you…”

She stops talking and grins drunkenly at the suited man. He looks uncomfortable.

“I’m Stacy. Stacy Stormpike. Spelt how it sounds. What about you?”

The man shrugs and looks at his phone.

“Jones. Ianto Jones.”

“A local boy then.”

“Grangetown.”

Stacy puts her arm around Ianto and leans in close enough for him to be able to smell the vodka and kebabs on her breath. 

“I’ve never been Grangetown…”

Ianto looks down at her, her eyes are wide and sure. He smiles a bit.

“Sorry. I’m working.”

She scoffs and leans back against a nearby wall.

“Sue you are. At 3am… don’t you like me?”

She moves close to him again, and leans like she’s going to kiss him. Its then Ianto hears the rumbling of an engine and a black SUV pulls up.

“Oh thank god.”

He says a very fleeting goodbye to Stacy and gets in the passenger side of the car. Stacy watches heartbroken as the handsome suited man drives off into the night.

****

Ianto sighed as Jack drove off.

“You took your bloody time.”

Jack grinned.

“You clearly didn’t seem to mind. Next time you’re courting, don’t leave your comm on.”

Ianto shot him a dark look and took out his PDA, glancing over the readings they had been picked up the last few nights running. Jack made a sharp turn to the left and further towards the outskirts of the city.

“Owen and Tosh have called in and are meeting us at the sight.”

Jack said, turning again and speeding down the clear roads.

“What about Gwen?”

Ianto then asked, already knowing the answer.

“She didn’t answer her phone. Her and Rhys were out last night.”

He turned to the younger man and waggled his eyebrows. Ianto groaned in response.

“Yeah. Well. So was I. you don’t see me getting the night off. God forbid I got more than 5 hours sleep. Bloody hell…”

Ianto was not a morning person, Jack knew this. You wouldn’t know it if you saw the Ianto at 7am walking down the boardwalk to the Tourist office, that less than an hour ago he was dragging himself around his flat, stubbing toes and mumbling curses. He was less even less of a morning person when that morning started 2 hours after he went to bed. Jack knew this. But Jack was the kind of guy who liked to poke the bear…

“Someone feeling a little grouchy this morning?”

The immortal said in an overly high pitched and mocking tone. Ianto glared at him and rolled his eyes.

“Yes, yes I bloody am. Bloody Torchwood.”

Jack drove for another minute or two before they reached the spot marked X. He got out of the car and into the freezing night air. They could see Tosh and Owen getting out of Owen’s Audi with grim faces.

“Good Morning to my happy employees. How are we all this fine Cardiff morning?”  
Jack was greeted with 3 stony glares. And one middle finger. Ianto walked to Owen and smiled tightly at him. They shook hands and something, Jack noticed, was passed between them.

“Alright mate?” Owen said.

“Never bloody better.”

Ianto put his hand in his pocket, clearly putting away whatever Owen had given him. Jack would ask about it later, now there was work to do.

A few weeks ago, at around 2am, Owen and Ianto had been manning the computers one night and noticed an anomaly in the readings. Not something large enough to register as rift activity, but possibly large enough for something to slip through. If that something was sentient and had high level tech. That wasn’t likely, so they ignored it and went back to bitching and drinking coffee. 

The next night Tosh was on computer watching, so she went home with her handheld and got into bed. At the same time, 2am, Tosh had just been reading an UNIT paper on alien tech and sipping tea until her monitor beeped and she saw the same thing.

In the board room the next day the team spoke about it, and decided that they would go and check it out if the anomaly happened again that night. It did. So the team drove out to the spot where the reading was coming from and found… nothing… absolutely nothing. 

For the next 6 night there was nothing, not another squeak from their monitors. On the 7th night however, Jack was watching his computer when it happened. 3 spots, all over the city, same reading. Something was defiantly going on. They went again, they found nothing again. This continued for the next 3 weeks until they finally did find something. 

Jack and Ianto were in the SUV, Ianto nursing a coffee and Jack staring at his screen. Gwen was parked next to them in her car, also sipping from a travel mug and looking at a small handheld. And next to Gwen was Tosh and Owen, Owen half hungover but eager to find this thing. Tosh was looking at her PDA. 

Almost simultaneously, the 3 devices chimed with 3 different points of activity. Jack co-ordinated them and off they went. Driving like madmen and chasing the tail of this case. As each team member arrived at their point, each found the same thing. A small black envelope with the image of a snake painted in white. 

****

“Any envelopes guys?” Jack shouted across the area. He was met with a chorus of ‘No’

Ianto was digging around in a bush, his suit getting a bit stained. Jack wandered over.

“Got anything?”

Ianto poked his head out of the bush and looked up.

“Maybe. Pass me that Torch will yah?”

Jack did so, passing him the heavy duty torch and crouching down. The area it up and Jack squinted past Ianto.

“What is that?”

Ianto picked it up through his glove and smiled and he brought it closer to his face. 

“Not quite an envelope, but certainly from our guys.”

He looked at the box, the white snake dancing across it, then up at Jack, who immediately went to get a containment box.

It was almost 6am by the time Ianto was lifting the containment box into the boot of the SUV and climbing back into the passenger seat. Jack was saying softly to Owen and Tosh that they would see them back at the hub. Jack began driving again, and Ianto was tiring after the long mornings work before dawn. 

Jack thought now was a good time to bring up what he saw back while they were working, while Ianto was sleepy and not angry.

“Hey, I was gonna ask. What was that between you and Owen earlier? He passed you something?”

Ianto’s head was against the window and his eyes had closed for a moment, he still grinned and reached into his pocket. He pulled out two things and held them to Jack. About 5 pounds in loose change was presented to him. Jack laughed and raised an eyebrow.

“Care to elaborate?”

Ianto chuckled to himself before continuing.

“We had a bet about whether Gwen would show or not. I lost.”

Jack looked sideways at Ianto and sighed. Nothing else was said for the car ride, and by the time they got to the hub, Ianto was fully awake. 

Ianto lugged the containment box towards the hub and after a few minutes was downstairs. Toshiko and Owen were already back, sitting at their stations and slumped over like zombies. Ianto lifted the box to the autopsy room, where he and Owen would examine it after Toshiko’s scans. Jack stood by the door of his office and watched his exhausted team. It was a Saturday morning. They had had a full on week with this confusing case that felt like it would never end, so when Friday night looked clear they had all gone to the pub for a few drinks and a good meal. In hopes that their mystery would hold off for the weekend, Jack had sent the team home to rest. Then of course, as they far too often were, they were all woken up by that phone call from Jack saying Rift activity, I’ll text you the location… 

“Okay guys, it’s…” He checked his watch. “…6:30am. I’m recommending you all find somewhere and nap,” He looked pointedly at Ianto. “And no coffee until at least 8. You hear me? Get some rest.” 

Owen and Tosh nodded and walked to find sleeping spots, Tosh going for the Sofa and Owen for the softer chair the corner of the boardroom. Ianto looked a little lost, then walked towards his station. 

“Ianto? What are you doing?”

Ianto’s head snapped up.

“Working sir.”

Jack rolled his eyes.

“Did you just ignore a direct order?”

“Was it a direct order?”

“Yes.”

Ianto thought for a moment.

“You should have been more direct.” And he promptly turned back to his work. 

Jack sighed and walked towards the younger man.

“I don’t think you understand Ianto. I’m not asking you if you want to go to sleep. I’m telling you to get your ass into my office and sleep on the sofa in there for a few hours. If you chose to ignore this I will be forced to take drastic measures.” 

Ianto chuckled but Jack looked completely serious. He raised his hands in surrender.

“Okay. Okay, fine. I’m going, I’m going…”

He moved off the chair and slumped on the sofa in Jack’s office. Actually glad for a few minutes rest. Even though he wasn’t sleeping, it felt good to let his body stop for a moment, at least until it all happened again.

*****

The alarm went off at the cog door as Gwen came in at 10 past nine, shouting apologies. Ianto had apparently drifted off, and was startled awake by this loud interruption. 

“I’m so sorry I’m late, I was completely fast asleep and missed your call Jack! I’m s-“

She was cut short when she came into the office, by an exhausted looking Ianto half up from the couch opposite the desk.

“Oh sorry love, we’re you sleeping?”

Ianto rubbed his eyes and stood, looking over to Jack who was seated at his desk.

“No, no Gwen. It’s fine… I will –Um- put some coffee on.”

Ianto walked out of the office to see Owen at his desk and Toshiko sitting on the sofa.

“Morning mate,” Owen said, not looking up. “Did I hear you mention coffee?”

Ianto walked past him with a fond smile and nodded to Tosh. 

“Morning Ianto. Sleep okay?”

Her voice was soft with sleep, obviously only recently having awoken herself. 

“Not bad. You?”

She smiled.

“Same. I’m running scans on our find this morning. They should be done in an hour or so, then you and Owen can examine it.”

“Cool. I will get the stuff out then?”

Tosh nodded. Ianto walked about from the pair and towards the coffee machine. He got out 5 mugs and turned on the machine. He ground the beans and mixed the blend, then sat back against the counter and waited for it to brew. He stretched out the muscles in his shoulders and back, enjoying the satisfying crack of his bones. The sound of steam made him turn around and he saw a perfect brew waiting to be poured. He did so into 5 mugs and made them with sugar and milk as each co-worker took it. 

As he handed them out Owen and Tosh showed silent gratitude and took long sips. He knocked on the now closed door of Jack’s office and brought in the two coffees for Jack and Gwen. He was barely noticed, but then Jack was briefing Gwen on what she had missed that morning. He came back out and closed the door, grabbing his own hot mug and sitting on the sofa next to Tosh. The only sounds were of Jack and Gwen’s muffled voices, the sipping of hot coffee and the whir of the hub all around them, including a beep from Tosh’s computer.

“Scan is done boys.” 

The trio walked over and looked at the screen. 

“Oh wow.”

“Oh boy.”

“Oh shit.”

“JACK!”


	2. Chapter 2

There was 10 of them. Around an oval table. It was black. There was a white snake painted delicately along the length of it. Number 4 raised her voice over the sound of talking. 

“Enough!”

The room turned to look at her.

“We bumble like fools! I say enough! We are equals in this room. There is no male or female here. We are one. Begin acting like it! Or I will be forced to call Number one. He will be upset if his plan is breaking because of you!”

Number 4 gestured to the others in the room. They all had a tattoo in white ink of the same snake on their cheeks. Number 4 subconsciously touched hers.

“We are a team damn it. Figure this out!”

She sat back in her chair and sighed. Number 7 looked to her, and sighed heavily.

**

“You bellowed?”

Jack came through from his office with Gwen close behind. Ianto gestured to the screen and Jack leaned to read it.

“Oh my God… I don’t believe it… how is this? What?”

He looked to Toshiko who shrugged.

“It’s the Team of Twelve Jack. The scan confirms it, it’s 56th century alright. This box is a message container. It’s like instant messaging or texting for these guys.” She explained to Gwen. “From what I’ve seen a lot of cults and large groups use this for inter-planetary communication. You write them a note or whatever, stick it in the box, and the box harnesses rift energy to travel to the desired location. The question is…”

“Why is the Twelve sending one to earth….?” 

The 4 of them looked at Jack. Gwen spoke up.

“So who are the Team of Twelve?”  
Jack smiled slightly.

“Imagine a group of people who do not acknowledge gender, sexuality or experience when deciding their leaders, but how many innocents that person has killed. The more you kill, the higher you rank. They work through time. I’ve known them to be in the 56th century to the 84th…. Always moving… always changing. The only thing that keeps is the number of members. Always 12.”

Gwen still looked confused.

“So… what do they actually do?”

Jack looked at her, his features dark.

“They are assassins. And if they are coming here, sending messages here… that means not only is one of the 12 in Cardiff, but so is a target.”

Jack walked back to his office and sat at his desk. They rest of them looked at each other. Owen spoke first.

“I say we take a look at our databases, see what we can find on the Twelve, and what this snake thing is that keeps popping up.”

“I will check the archives.”

Jack put his head round the door. 

“Good idea. Gwen and Tosh, databases. Ianto, archives, look for anything in the late 1980s, I have a hunch. And Owen you are with me. We’re gonna figure out this box.”

**

Number 4 and Number 8 looked out of the window on the main deck. Number 4 had been crying.

“You know. Number one never has to know about this.”

4 looked at 8 with anger in her eyes.

“He will find out. He always does. The box never made it to Number 11. Something is wrong. If the targets are not reached…. One will have all our heads.”

They looked out into the darkness, the light from the stars lighting their skin.

8 turned to 4 with sadness bleeding out of his heart. She could feel it.

“Can I ever know your name?”

He was desperate to know her, she shook her head.

“You know you can’t.”

She looked at him then, with almost hatred.

“You disgust me Number 8. You are weak.”

Number 4 walked away and left number 8 to look out into the galaxy and think how on sol-3 he was here. 

**

Ianto had his head in a filing cabinet. It was the Letter T, years 1970-1990. He had long lost track of time and was just desperate on finding something that could help. Ianto wasn’t sure what sort of information Jack was hoping he would find, but for the sake of his sanity and sleep habits, Ianto hoped he would find it soon. 

Upstairs Gwen was typing slowly, looking through news reports of people going missing or anything to do with a white snake. Tosh hands moved at a blur, clicking and swiping and searching through open tabs and databases that she legally wasn’t supposed to have access to. It sure beat Gwen’s google search.

Jack was wearing a gasmask and boiler suit, Owen was in full hazmat, both of them with acid, fire, heat and cold resistant materials. The autopsy bay was sealed off, with 7 inches of lead blocking them off from the main hub. There was a key code, and when it was entered correctly two doors would cross and lock whoever, or whatever, was in the autopsy bay firmly in. 

Jack went first, taking to the box with a great hammer. Nothing happened. Then Owen, who took a blow torch and attempted to burn through it. In turn an axe, a broad sword, varying guns and knives, a sonic blaster, a DNA mock up, the hammer again and finally, Jack’s brilliant idea, human skin. 

Jack took off his glove while Owen stood by the railing looking concerned. 

“This isn’t going to end well Jack.”

“How do you know?”

“Gut feeling.”

“I never believe my gut.”

Owen rolled his eyes. And took a step back. Jack firmly planted his hand on the box. The immortal’s eyes spread wide and he smiled a little bit. 

“What? What is happening?”

The box clicked open and Jack’s smile faded.

“Oh Ianto is gonna be so mad at me….”

Then Jack promptly fell to the ground in death, hitting his head for good measure and splitting his brow. Owen rolled his eyes and stepped over him to get to the box. It was open. Inside was a small black envelope with a white painted snake. Next to it was a pointed stick. It looked a little bit like a pencil with no lead, and all black. Owen noticed a fine hole ran all the way through the centre. And there was smaller box, like a cigarette box, Open reached for it and opened it. There were 4 small darts with an amber liquid inside. And one dark with a blue liquid. Each dark had a two letters printed on the metal of the point.

GC

IJ

TS

OH

JH

Owen gasped and slowly put the darts back inside. He was sweating inside his suit. JH… that was the only one with blue liquid inside…

Suddenly Jack surged off the floor with the air forcing its way into his lungs. He looked up at Owen and breathed heavily.

“So…. What’s in the box?”


	3. Chapter 3

Jack sat in his chair in his office nursing a small glass of whiskey. Owen was down in the autopsy room doing various tests on the small darts and their contents. Tosh was at her computer, re-checking all of the files her and Ianto had accumulated from the Torchwood database for any time that Torchwood had been in contact with the Twelve. Gwen had left an hour ago with excuses of dinner with Rhys and holding onto her life. Ianto was at his desk, hands in pockets and thinking…

The young man counted the 5 pounds over in his pocket again, enjoying the feel of the metal over his skin. He thought back to Jack and the conversation in the car. He thought about his bet with Owen and smiled slightly. Not about Gwen as he had told Jack, that was more just to see the look on the immortals face. Shaking his head, Ianto stood up and walked over to the autopsy bay. 

“Alright mate?”

Owen said, looking up over his goggles at Ianto.

“Never better.” He looked at his watch. “It’s late, you found anything?”

Owen tapped a screen and pulled up some charts on the overhead projector for Ianto to see. 

“The 4 darts for what looks like you, me, Tosh and Gwen, are filled with your darn straight poison. If anyone were to research a list of compounds that would kill a human in under 60 seconds, they would find everything that is in here. Seriously, this thing is a cocktail of every deadly poison known to the human race, and a few that aren’t. If these darts are for us, they were defiantly meant to kill.”

Ianto looked uncomfortable.

“What about the blue one?”

Owen perked up.

“Now that is interesting. I think that our friends in the Team o’ Twelve know about our enigmatic leader and his certain special skills. This solution has not a drop of anything that could kill Jack, at least not in these amounts. It’s a solution similar to what we use here to freeze people except instead of cooling the body down, the body would just enter stasis. Like being paralysed. Forever.”

“Cheery thought.”

“Indeed. And how is Jack? Still brooding?”

Ianto smiled and nodded.

“Drinking in his office.”

“You staying?”

Ianto’s eyes darted to Jack’s office and to where he was sitting. Ianto knew there would be no getting Jack to talk tonight.

“Not today. Pub?”

Owen nodded and took his gloves off.

“Best just keep our wits eh teaboy? What with a crazy assassin wanting to kill us or whatever.”

Ianto laughed and got his coat. He popped his head round the door to Jack’s office. 

“I’m off.”

Jack’s head whipped up. For a second Ianto was sure he saw disappointment cross the older man’s face. Only a second… then it was gone. 

“Okay… be careful on your way home.”

Ianto laughed.

“Okay Jack.” Ianto walked round and kissed Jack’s head lightly. “I’ll be fine.”

Jack smiled and kissed Ianto lightly, not their usual fare, a little kinder maybe…

“See you.”

Ianto left out the door and followed Owen out the hub door. 

***

Owen drank his pint half the way down before stopping to breathe. Ianto laughed and ate a pretzel from the bowl in front of him. 

“So Teaboy, what are we thinking tonight?”

“£10”

“No way.”

“Yes way.”

“£5”

“No deal.”

“Bastard. £7”

Ianto laughed and extended his hand.

“Deal. But watch your arse tiny man.” 

Ianto got up and walked to the bar, putting an order in for two more pints. 

***

Jack walked out of his office and stretched his muscles. It was nearly 11pm and Tosh was still at her desk. He walked to her and put his hand on her arm. She jumped out of her skin and nearly fell of the small chair.

“Easy, easy!” Jack laughed. “Only me,”

Tosh glared but couldn’t hide the smile.

“God, you scared me. What is it?”

“It’s 11. Why are you still here?”

She checked her watch and looked back up in horror.

“God, look at the time. I better get going.”

“Good idea. Back in tomorrow, we are gonna figure this out.” 

Toshiko kissed Jack’s cheek and picked up her coat. He watched as she slowly made her way out of the hub and off to go home. He sighed, wishing he’s asked Ianto to stay. But… there was something he had to do. 

***

Owen handed over the £7 to Ianto, who was smiling wide and sipping his drink.

“You are a bad man Jones.”

Ianto shrugged.

“Does Jack know about this?”

Owen asked, suddenly serious. Ianto looked up, taken back by the question.

“I imagine so, he knows a lot of things.”

“But have you told him?”

Ianto looked down.

“It doesn’t concern him. This is a way of letting off steam without him. And if he knew, he would never let us live it down.”

Owen looked at his empty pint glass and the pool table they had just vacated.

“You might be right…” he dug into his pocket. “Double or nothing I win the next game.”

Ianto rolled his eyes.

“Why do you keep doing this to yourself!? You will never beat me at pool!”

**

Jack was sat at his desk again, the phone poised in his hand. He took a deep breath and pressed the green button. It rang 4 times before a voice greeted him.

“Jack?”

“Martha Jones!”

“Why are you calling, do you know what time it is?”

Jack looked at his watch. 2am. Oops.

“I know, I’m sorry, but it’s urgent.”

He heard Martha get out of bed and move to what he imagined was a desk. He heard a laptop open and the sounds of it turning on.

“What is it?”

“The Team of Twelve. You heard of them?”

“Um… they are more of a legend here. I’ve read the file on UNIT’s knowledge of them, but most of that is what you supplied from the time agency when you took over Torchwood. Why do you ask?”

“I might have a slight issue with them. We’ve intercepted a few of their communications and we think they might be targeting us.”

“Shit Jack. Are you guys okay?”

“We’re fine. But there was a communications box that came through with 5 darts intended to take us out and instructions in another language, Tosh is translating it overnight.”

He heard Martha huff.

“What exactly do you want me to do Jack?”

He sighed rubbing his tired eyes.

“I know it’s an imposition, but I need you to talk to the higher ups. UNIT has information about the Twelve that Torchwood doesn’t have access to. Torchwood had a run in with the Twelve in the 1980s, but I was on assignment in America, I came back to a dead team. UNIT took the files off me and appointed a new leader transferred from London. We need those files. I never knew what really happened that day.”

He heard Martha’s breathing on the phone, and her reserved sigh. 

“Okay Jack. I can get them to you by morning. Do the rest of Torchwood three know about this?”

Jack smiled.

“No, they don’t. I remembered when my archivist couldn’t find anything from the 1980s. Please send them as soon as you can.”

“I will.”

“Thank you so much, I owe you. And when are you gonna come visit me in Cardiff?”

She laughed.

“Soon Jack, okay? Soon.”

“Soon.” He confirmed. 

“Good night Jack.”

“G’night Martha Jones.”

She cut the line and he smiled at the handset. Satisfied with his night’s work he grabbed his coat and decided to go pay Ianto a visit. 

***

The pub crowd was growing thinner by the time Ianto and Owen were stumbling out. Ianto’s pocket was full of Owen loose change.

“I so let you win that time teaboy.”

“Sure you did. Just admit I’m much better at pool than you. Settle this. You only keep losing money.”

Owen sighed into the cold welsh night.

“I just do it to keep you busy.”

“Right. I will look for a cab.”

Ianto strained his neck to see into the road. He sighed when he saw no sign of movement. 

“Better start walking.”

His footsteps echoed in the night next to Owen’s, who had turned quiet.

“You know when we started doing this pub night thing Ianto, when Jack was away… it was a distraction for both of us yeah? Because he was gone and….”

“I know what it was Owen.”

“But he’s back.”

“Yeah. So what? He’s back, that doesn’t mean I don’t need distracting every now and again.”

They fell silent again, Owen unsure of what to say. That was how pool began. Every night they were free from Torchwood they would stumble to the closest pub and play pool until their hands could barely hold steady. It kept them thinking about anything other than work, or Jack, or whatever. They started betting on to make it interesting, it turned out that when money was involved, Ianto’s skill increased dramatically. When Jack came back Owen had fully expected Pool night to stop, so was exceptionally surprised when Ianto had come up to him one night after a tough case and asked him if he wanted to go to the pub. The Englishman has simply assumed that the distractions of cheap booze and a crappy game would cease after the need for the distraction returned. 

Ianto kicked a stone and chucked a little.

“What’s so funny?”

Owen asked, his thoughts ceasing. 

“I just, after everything… I thought that after everything you would get needing to be away from Torchwood for an hour or two… I mean… doesn’t it bother you? Doesn’t it bother you that there is some crazy assassin running around Cardiff with a plan to kill us? Doesn’t it just make you want to run to the nearest pub and never leave?”  
Oh. Owen understood now. It was a tough day, a long day, that started at 3am. Ianto was stressed, or had been stressed until they played a bit of pool and Owen lost all his money. 

“I understand.”

They were quiet again until they heard the rumble of a car they knew too well. A black SUV pulled up next to them and Jack wound down the window.

“Jack?” Owen asked confused. “Why are you driving about the middle of Cardiff at half two in the morning?”

“Why are you walking about Cardiff at half two in the morning?”

“Pub.”

“Ahh. Need a lift home?”

Owen nodded and got in the back of the car. Ianto stayed outside looking at Jack.

“Need a lift darlin’?” Jack said in his best Texas accent.

“Were you on the way to my flat?”

Jack looked sheepish.

“Maybe…”

Ianto rolled his eyes.

“Idiot.”

He got in the passenger side of the car and smiled a bit as they drove Owen home and then went back to his flat.

***

Number 4 was sat at a desk with her hands tucked neatly into her lap. Number one was staring at her. 

“Number 11... The information never made it to him.”

“No, it did not.”

“Why not?”

Number 4 coughed.

“We don’t know yet…”

He slammed his hands on the table and stood up. 

“YOU DON’T KNOW?”

Number 4 shook with fear.

“No sir.”

Number One stared at her.

“I took a chance with you 4. Done make me reconsider. Fix this. The targets must be taken out, or the plan will fail. Do you want that?”

“No sir.” Number 4 mumbled.

“What was that?”

“No sir.” She said louder. 

“Good. Fix this, or I will make an example out of you. Get out of my sight.”

Number 4 rose from the chair and practically ran form the room. Number 8 was waiting outside for her.

“Are you okay?” 

He asked her, reaching for her shaking hand. She recoiled.

“Don’t touch me. Don’t even come near me.” She snarled. “I have to fix this. Meeting in 10, get the others.”

She stormed past him and towards the meeting hall. 8 sighed and slowly followed her, tracing his tattoo with the point of his finger.

***

“So… pub?”

Jack asked, getting into bed. Ianto had mostly sobered up now, he was just still a little wobbly on his feet.

“Yes pub.”

“With Owen?”

“With Owen.”

“Is this a new thing….?”

Ianto got into bed and switched the light off.

“We started going while you were away.”

“Ah.” Jack said to the darkness. “While I was away…”

Ianto rolled his eyes and turned to face Jack in the darkness.

“Stop thinking. It’s annoying me. Go to sleep.”

So Jack did, and he dreamt about the end of the world.


	4. Chapter 4

Ianto woke up when his alarm beeped in his face at 5am. He groaned and rolled over, silencing it. Jack sighed from next to him and sat up.

They were at the hub by 7am and Ianto went straight to the coffee. Tosh was there too, her eyes bloodshot and bags hanging under them. She looked like she had been there all night.

“Toshiko?”

Jack walked over, putting his hand on her tense shoulder.

“Jack! I have great news, I’ve been translating this note and it’s just about to complete. I’m glad you arrived actually because I’ve been thinking-”

Jack cut her off.

“When I told you to leave last night, how far did you get before you turned straight back around and came here?”

Tosh at least looked sheepish.

“30 minutes….”

She confessed quietly. Jack shook his head and smiled a little bit.

“Toshiko Sato, what am I going to do with you?”

He kissed her head softly and she smiled. Ianto came over with a tray of 3 coffees and gave them respectively to Tosh and Jack.

“Thanks Ianto,”

Jack said with a wink.

“Thank you Ianto,”

Tosh said after, taking a long sip and letting her eyes fall shut. Shaking his head and sighing, Jack tuned back to Tosh.

“So what have you been thinking?”

**

Gwen was running a bit late. She always was these days. Being torchwood was so bloody hard sometimes. These two worlds split across her life. There was her mad life, the one with aliens, car chases, massive explosions, gun training, computer hacking, scans, hand to hand combat and Jack Harkness. Then there was her normal life, cushion shopping with Rhys and arguing over what to have for dinner. Last night they had eaten takeaway pizza and watched take me out. It had been so painfully normal, there was no imminent chance of death, no Ianto in her ear saying ‘Get the hell out Gwen’ or Tosh giving her directions ‘Take the next left, Jack is 6ft behind you, keep going.’ There was no Owen in the medical bay, ‘I’ve found something strange… it seems our friend here was hiding something interesting,’ and there was no Jack Harkness. ‘Hold onto your life Gwen… Don’t let it slip.”

Well. She wasn’t. She had help onto it, and now they were going to get married. It was exciting. Gwen cooper really was looking forward to becoming Gwen Williams, at least that was what she told herself. 

Gwen pulled into the millennium underground carpark and smiled as she locked the door and jogged to the door that led to the hub, to her secret world…. Today was another day of action and aliens. And Gwen Cooper couldn’t bloody wait. 

**

Owen Harper woke up and gagged. What had he and Ianto drank last night? He hadn’t thought himself drunk at the time, but now he felt as though he had just been run over. And he bloody stank. He walked to the shower and rinsed quickly. He knew it was late, It was also his weekend, so he counted it his right to be an hour or two late. He was just dragging on his jeans when his phone rang, it was Ianto.

“A’right?” The Welsh voice sounded. “Planning on coming in today or what? Tell me you’re not hungover, we barely drank.”

Owen scoffed.

“You’re Welsh. It’s not my fault you can hold more than me. It’s in your fuckin’ blood.”

Ianto laughed on the other end of the line.

“And I’m sure that it’s not just because you are lightweight.”

Owen groaned.

“Shut up teaboy. There better be a coffee on my desk when I get there.”

Owen could hear Ianto’s smile as he spoke. 

“Isn’t there always?”

With that the line broke, and Owen threw his phone on the bed. 

**

“That’s a good theory Tosh… But I mean, how many people have we pissed off? Just considering humans we have got to be in the 1000s,” He looked to Ianto for support on that   
one. The younger man nodded, agreeing. “Then we have the aliens, and that… is a number too big to consider. How do we whittle this down?”

Tosh looked back to the monitor and the translated note.

“I say we debrief the others when they get in, then figure this out.”

Ianto sounded powerful, and decisive. Jack nodded, agreeing with the Welshman’s plan. Just then the cog door rolled open and Owen walked in.

“I’m sorry I’m late! I know, I’m a wanker! But tea boy here got me drunk, and it is a Sunday.”

Ianto laughed and handed the shorter man a coffee.

“Drink this and stop complaining. You had a good night.”

Jack looked between the pair of them, and Tosh sitting and smiling fondly at their antics. He wondered how he had missed this solid friendship that had formed between his team while he was away. Jack had only been back in Cardiff two months or so, and the team was adjusting well. They were a long way from the 4 people who shot him and betrayed him. A long way from the team who shot each other and beat each other up. They were friends… The immortal suddenly felt immense pride, then sick as he thought about someone planning on killing them. 

“Jack you okay mate?” Owen put his hand on Jack’s arm. “You spaced out a bit. Need a drink?”

Jack shook his head and moved to sit at one of the desks.

“I just want to figure this thing out. And make sure no one gets hurt.”

Suddenly Gwen walked in from the tunnels entrance. Her eyes were red and there were tears down her face. They were mixing with the bloody coming down the side of her head.   
Her shirt was dyed red and her hands looked raw. 

“Gwen?!”

Jack shouted, running over, followed by Owen.

“We… we have a body to examine.”

Jack and Owen shared a look. And wordlessly Ianto walked the way Gwen had come in, grabbing a body bag and a trolley.

**

“If ever something strange happens… it’s almost always related…”

Ianto muttered to himself as he lifted the dead body onto the trolley. He was repeating something Jack had told him a few months back while they were on a case. It was true about 99% of the time. And Ianto was pretty sure that a dead body showing up right next to the hub entrance, along with an attack on one of their employees, wasn’t just a coincidence… they had found the hub, Ianto was sure of it. So walking back in, he kept his hand on his gun until the door was safely locked behind him. 

**

Gwen was sat on the autopsy table while Owen patched up her small head wound, Jack watched from the railing. Meanwhile Tosh was at her computer, collecting the CCTV. They heard before they saw Ianto.

“Shitbuggershithitshit. Fuck!”

Jack said a brief goodbye to Gwen and Owen and went over to where Ianto was cursing, now in welsh. 

“Ianto?”

For a man like Ianto to swear, it had to take something quite extraordinarily shit. Jack realised immediately why this was one of those rare times.   
The body had toppled over from the gurney half way down the hall and apparently soiled Ianto in blood. He looked like an extra from a bad zombie movie. 

“Oh my God…”

Ianto shot daggers at him and grabbed a plastic sheet from the side then walked back down the hall. Jack followed to help him out, not loving the idea of Ianto roaming around   
the lower levels looking like something from a child’s bad dream. Together they pulled the body back up, and Jack took control of the trolley, not wanting Ianto in his anger to drop the body off anywhere else. 

“I am going for a shower.”

Ianto announced before taking off his blood soiled tie and dumping it in the nearest bin. Jack was holding in laughter, but knew damn well better than to let it out. He pulled the   
body to the top of the autopsy stairs, then went down to see Gwen. 

“How we doing Gwen?”

She still looked in shock, little miss ‘im the heart of torchwood.’ She wasn’t wrong in sense of emotion. Jack took her hand.

“Can you tell me what happened Gwen?”

She looked up and stared into his eyes, he suddenly felt cold. 

“It’s them Jack. They’ve found us.”

She held up a small piece of card, also covered in red. But the blood didn’t cover what was so clearly a white snake pained on black card. This time a message was printed beneath   
it. In English interestingly.

‘The past makes fools of us all.’

Jack looked up suddenly. Then ran to Tosh, still holding the card. He handed it to her. Her eyes met his in shock and amazement. He brought up the translated note on the screen. Owen and Gwen had walked up the stairs and were now behind Tosh, reading the note.

Target-Torchwood.  
Location-Cardiff, Wales, Britain, Sol 3, Galaxy 4Acb2 (according to the Time Lord naming system of the year 43 000.)  
Payment- 100,000,000 credits  
Justification- “The past makes fools of us all”  
Client- unknown.  
Agent overseeing case- Number 11. 

“Oh my God…” Gwen muttered “It was… for us…”

Jack nodded.

“The past makes fools of us all…. I know that phrase…”

Jack was just about to find Ianto and have him dig into it, when his phone buzzed with a call.

“Hello?”

“Jack, it’s me. I got those files.”

“…”

“Jack? I just sent them through for you…”

“…”

“It’s funny because when I asked the higher ups for them, they were reluctant to give them to you. Kept going on about the past…”

“The past makes fools of us all….”

“Yeah exactly. How did you know?”

Jack closed his eyes.

“Thanks Martha, I gotta go.”

“Anytime. Jack List-”

Jack hung up the phone and dropped it on the desk. He ran to his office and printed off the files, sweating as they one by one came out in the tray. Ianto was out of the shower now, dressed in all his suit bar the jacket. His hair was wet.

“What’s going on?”

He followed the team into Jack’s office as the immortal read the files quickly and swore.

“Jack? What is going on?”

Toshiko pleaded from him.

Jack help up the file and the UNIT logo sparkled from the header.

“The past Toshiko, as my old friend Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart used to say to me a lot, makes fools of us all… Unit motto back in the day, heard it a thousand   
times. And one more today.”

**


	5. Chapter 5

1987

“Would you turn that shit off?” Michael shouted at Sarah as she played Whitney Houston’s ‘I wanna dance with somebody,’ “I don’t need this shit. When is Harkness getting back from America?” 

Sarah turned the music down a bit but kept singing from her desk. Paul, the boss, came out of his office and into the main area of the hub. 

“Jack will be back tomorrow. He should be anyway. UNIT wanted him for a quick assignment. Lord only knows how I could miss that man, but I can’t wait for the stupid bugger to get back.”

Paul Jenkins had been leader at Torchwood Cardiff for 5 years. He had taken over from Lucas in ’82 when he had died at the hands of a weevil. A young man stepped up from the lower levels with a file.

“Alex!” Paul exclaimed. “What did you find?”

The young man smiled.

“Not much unfortunately, It seems Torchwood have never come into contact with this ‘Team of Twelve.’ I did look, but i'm sorry the archives are an absolute mess.”

Paul frowned. 

“It’s okay kid. I will ask Jack about it later. I just wanna know why we keep getting these bloody letters. And what the hell is with this fucking snake?”

He threw a piece of black card on the desk and rubbed his eyes. Just then an alarm blared in his ears. Sarah spun to her laptop.

“Rift activity….”

“Where?”

“…”

“Sarah, where?”

“I… I don’t understand… It’s not a normal reading. It’s like…. Its localized. Man made.”

“How is that possible?”

“I don’t know? But it’s being transferred here form the rift in London… It’s like someone has directed it here.”

Her fingers flew over the keypad.

“We need to call Jack. He knows more than any of us.”

Paul looked for Alex.

“Alex. Get out. Go to a safe spot, go home, and try to call Jack. You are the youngest of us. And something bad is happening okay.”

Alex nodded and grabbed his coat. He started dialling Jack’s number as he ran. 

(Meanwhile in an airport in America)

“Sir, could you turn your landline off please… wait…. How do you have that?”

Jack Harkness looked up to the young hostess and gave her his best smile. 

“I’m sorry darling, it’s important.” He picked up the bulky mobile and said “Jack.”

“Jack. It’s me. Something is… I don’t know. But Paul told me to call you.”

“Woah Alex. Slow down?”

“I don’t know what’s happening Jack. But someone is making the rift be active. It’s not us…”

“That’s not possible…”

“Jack… I, I’m running.”

“Keep running Alex, I will be there soon.”

“Sorry sir, you really can’t have that!”

The woman took the phone off him and pressed the red button.

“ALEX!”

“JACK!”

The line was dead. 

(Cardiff.)

There was a bright light filtering into the hub. A figure walking through. 

“Torchwood… where is Jack Harkness?”

They held up a vial with blue liquid inside.

“He… He’s not here!”

Paul shouted over the thunder. Sarah was cowering under desk, Michael holding her tight. 

“Tell us his location!”

“WE DONT KNOW!”

Michael screamed.

The figure looked at him. And he died. Blood pouring out his ears. Sarah sobbed. And she went next. Paul stared in horror at his dead friends.

“Tell us where he is.”

“I… I… don’t know…”

“The past makes fools of us all.”

“Wh..? Unit?? What?”

Then Paul felt life leave him. And that was it.

(London)

“Jack Harkness has been working with us for the past month you fool!”

Junior Sargent Luke Bentley was sat with two other recruits. Their heads were hung in shame. 

“Why would you give the call now? We have nothing. We don’t have Harkness and now we have 4 bloody murders to cover up! And Harkness will be arriving at their base within the next 2 hours.”

Luke stuttered.

“The… The officer said it was time. Said we had to act quickly…. That they needed him. So… so I contacted them.”

“You bloody fool!”

A strike fell across Luke’s young face, and his dead body fell onto the floor. 

“You two. Get to Cardiff. Cover this up.” The young recruits stood. “And remove the files from Harkness’s possession. He is never to know why this happened. We have to ensure   
that when we try again. It is done correctly. And someone get me a communication box.”

He began to write a note for the same mission to be operated in 30 years’ time. Harkness should have forgotten about it by then. And operation Jade Heart could continue….

(Cardiff Train Platform)

Jack was running like a madman, he barely got off the train collected his go bag before he was running towards the hub entrance. He got out his phone. 

“Alex? Alex are you in the hub?”

“No, I’m at my flat? Where are you?”

“Nearly at the hub, stay there I will come and find you.”

Jack hung up the phone and lowered himself on the lift. He could see the blood from 10 metres up. He could also see 7 UNIT soldiers with clipboards and body bags. Jack jumped   
off the lift 2 metres before the base and ran to Sarah’s bloody body.

“OH MY GOD! NO! SARAH PLEASE… God please no…”

He pulled her towards him, touching Michaels face. He saw Paul from where he sat, spread across the floor, the blood of his friends staining his face. Rough hands pulled him back   
and sat him down. He fought, so they injected him. The last thing Jack saw was the face of his former boss, contorted in pain. 

He woke up 12 hours later in Paul’s office. Alex was there.

“Alex?”

“Jack… you’re awake…”

His eyes were red, but he looked glad to see the immortal.

“What happened? Where have they taken them?”

Alex shook his head.

“I don’t know Jack… but… but they made me boss. They made me boss and assigned us 4 new members, straight from UNIT.”

Jack looked to the main hub and saw 4 people in casual clothes standing around. He caught Alex’s eyes.

“They said we weren’t to know what happened. CCTV has been wiped and the files… we can’t access them…”

“Did they say anything about who it could have been?”

“All they said was that it was a ‘Team of Twelve’ but I don’t know who they are…”

Jack sat up and rubbed his eyes, feeling tears prick behind them. He put his hand on Alex’s shoulder and gave it a rough squeeze. He gave him his best smile.

“We’ll figure this out. In the meantime boss… back to work…”

**

2007

“UNIT motto? What are you saying Jack?”

Owen asked, still utterly confused.

“Brig used to say it all the time. He said it was a way to help him forget about his mistakes and move on… But often people mistook him for meaning that he regretted his past   
mistakes.” Jack shook his head. “What does He have to do with this? What does UNIT have to do with this?”

Tosh took the printed files off Jack.

“You said that UNIT took these off you after the events in 87. Maybe they had something to do with it and, I don’t know, used Brigadier’s old phrase as a, what? Justification?” 

“Why me though? Why is this directed at us? At me?”

Jack thought back to his past at UNIT, back to the 80s… back to his time with them and with Brig… He couldn’t fit it together in his head. But wait… what if… no….

“UNIT found out I was immortal in 85.”

Ianto looked up from his coffee and shook his head.

“What has that got to do with it?”

Jack looked to the younger man, he was confused and, Jack thought, hurt or at least emotional by the events Jack read.

Owen smiled.

“Oh my God. That blue stuff, not something that could kill anyone. It’s a paralysing drug.”

Tosh stepped in.

“The file says that the CCTV picked up an image of a ‘blue liquid in a clear vile,’ being held by the assassin.”

“Do we assume it’s the same stuff?”

Owen asked. Tosh nodded.

“So someone finds out The Cap can’t die and wants a closer look?”

Ianto still looked uncomfortable. Owen looked at him.

“What’s eating at you mate?”

The younger man looked up.

“That’s all fine. But how does the attack on Gwen fit into all this? If we are saying that this is some attack on Jack from way back when in order to what? Experiment on him, on his immortality…. 3 questions hit me. Why wait 30 years between attacks? Why kill an entire team in the 80s and then attempt to kill another in 2007? And why attack Gwen now, and leave her with sure identification? It doesn’t make sense. None of it does?”

The team looked at him, all thinking the same thing. Jack said it.

“Ianto, get Brigadier on the line.”

**

Number 4 sat at the round table, the communication box placed neatly in front of her. The date on it read

December 1987

She opened it for the 100th time and read the neat scribble of their client again. She had failed him. Failed them. Failed herself and her organisation. Number eight came and t by   
her.

“So what do we do now? Number 11 hasn’t made contact since he found their base. What do we assume?”

“We assume nothing.”

8 looked out the viewing window. 

“Sol 3 is a strange planet. I often wanted to see it for myself. The humans… the life… the stories made it seem beautiful.”

“Maybe it once was.”

“But then of course you get these jobs of people wanting us to do their dirty work... killing is no problem, I’ve not that more times than I can possibly know, but what they   
requested.” He gestured to the box. “I cannot fathom.”

“They are still a client.”

“And the sender is dead.”

“It doesn’t matter. The project is still active. Even if the agent if not.”

Number 8 shook his head. 

“Number 8… I was put on this job when Number 3 died. And One trusts me with it. I don’t care what the client wants, I don’t care what they ask for and it isn’t my business what they do with the body once we are paid. I do my job and that’s all I have ever cared about.” She looked at him for the first time. “You should be doing so too. Enough with these emotions, these weaknesses. You said yourself, you are a killer. You didn’t get into this position by being a nice guy. I don’t love you 8. I never will. So give it up.”

She stood and carried the box away. Number 8 sat there, waited until she had left then dropped his head onto the desk. She was right, he had killed so many innocent people. He   
hadn’t gotten this job by being a nice guy. Well now, he was wishing for a different life. One that didn’t hurt so much.

**

“Jack Harkness. Can you put The Brigadier on?”

“Certainly Sir. Hold please?”

There was a long beep and Jack sighed, then smiled as he heard the familiar voice.

“Jack Harkness! A phone call from my favourite man. Tell me, has Kate rung you recently?”

Jack laughed.

“Not recently. Why?”

“She has some news. But I suppose she will tell you soon enough. Now my good man. What is it you ring me for on such a day? Not hoping to rekindle the old fire I infer. Not with   
an old chap like me.”

Jack smiled again and took a sharp breath.

“Sorry Brig, not today. I need to ask you something about UNIT back in the day.”

“Go on then, shoot.”

“You know you used to say that Old phrase… ‘The past makes fools of us all.’ Well it’s popped up again, as justification for an assignation attempt on my current Torchwood team.   
And possibly the attack on Torchwood in 87. We think the Old UNIT heads might have something to do with it.”

“Good lord man. Are you all okay? That nice man in the suit? He helped me set my new server up.”

“Yeah, we are all fine.” Jack threw a sideways glance at Ianto and smiled. “Just can you tell me who was a UNIT head in 87?”

“Umm… out of the ones I worked with. One is dead. The others are still alive, but only just about.”

“Names Brig.”

“Right. Um. Stork, Harold Stork. He headed up the scientific department. Agnes Smith-Jones. She did the new recruit training. Patrick Kornsmoker. Admin chap, lovely guy. And finally Ian, Ian Lewis. He working in weaponry.”

“And the dead one?”

“That would be the director in charge of everything. He was the highest ranking officer at the time. Not the founder, but at the same value. He was a strange one…”

“How so?”

Jack heard Brig take a long breath.

“He always used to say to me that I had the wrong idea. That aliens were never going to be a good thing. As you know I believe in the goodness of any species, I will always look for the good… But Him. He was something else…”

“You got a name?”

“Yeah. I think… Yes… Nelson, Nelson Dalton-Hall.”

“Thanks Brig. I owe you a pint.”

“I think you owe me two young man. Let me know how this all ends up.”

“Will do boss. Thanks again.”

Jack hung up the phone and picked up the list of names he had written down. He called Ianto.

“Yes sir?”

He handed him the names.

“The first 4, find them. First look at how we can contact them, then find out what they were up to in the 80s-90s.”

“On it.”

“And Ianto?”

Ianto turned back around.

“Yeah?”

“You free tonight?”

Ianto raised an eyebrow. Jack smirked at the slight blush on his cheeks.

“Depends if my boss will let me off work.”

“He sounds terrible."

“Oh he is.”

“Well maybe if you talk real nice he will let you have the night off.”

“I will have to work on that.”

“You will.”

Ianto grinned.

“What do you have in mind?”

“Dinner at yours?”

“Sounds good.” He gestured to the paper in his hands. “I better get this done then, sir”

“I think so.”

Ianto left the room smirking, Jack was at his desk grinning like a madman. 

He got up and walked to Toshiko’s desk.

“What have we got on our corpse then?”

“Barry Carmichael. Works in the Millennium centre. Married, one kid, average salary, no criminal record or history of communication with UNIT or contact with alien tech. He’s clean as the proverbial whistle. Looks like he was just walking along on his way to work,” She pulled up the CCTV of the carpark. “Gwen gets out of her car, starts walking to the door, a man comes up behind her, whacks her on the dead. Barry comes up, jumped on the bloke, and gets stabbed in the stomach for his troubles. Gwen kicks the attacker in the nuts and runs in the door. All very normal.”

Jack raised his eyebrows. 

“Okay, good work Tosh. Look into who this attacker is. Any markings. Anything.”

“Got it.”

Gwen was sitting at her desk chewing on a pen.

“How we doing Gwen?”

She looked up, startled.

“I’m fine. Yes. Sorry. No. I’m fine.”

Jack smiled.

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I’m good.”

“Okay. Keep working.”

Jack moved away from her to the autopsy bay.

“What have you got for me Owen, and please say it is something more than just an average corpse.”

“It’s more than just an average corpse.”

Jack grinned.

“Go on.”

Owen pulled a bit of metal from the table and held it up to Jack with some tweezers.

“That is?”

“From the looks of it, the tip of the knife that stabbed him. Bit strange, but not completely unlikely. I have yet to run a scan, but given the circumstances, how easily this thing snapped off AND the toxicology, I know that this is a metal that when it breaks it dispenses a concentrated amount of acid. Essentially you stab them to get the knife deep, split the end, the acid is released and boom. There is a dead person. Very elegant.”

“Indeed. That’s good work Owen. Keep looking into that knife. Scan it for Neeson energy and any other hints it could have come through the rift. Trace it if you can. And keep me   
updated.”

“Yes boss.”

Jack walked back to his office and sat in his chair heavily. He picked up the UNIT file again and flicked to the end. The bit where all the people it passed by would have signed. He sat up straight.

“No way…”

‘Officer authorising confiscation and permanent shelving of this file: Nelson Dalton-Hall.’

His messy signature was beneath, marked in red ink. Jack cursed. Just then Ianto walked into his office.

“Ianto… tell me you have good news.”

Jack gestured feebly and sat back in his chair. Annoyed.

“I have good news Jack.” Jack couldn’t help thinking that Ianto looked incredibly smug. He raised his eyebrows. “I have contact details and places of residence for all 4 of the names you gave me. As well as immediate family and if you want them, their bank details. I can tell you that what the Brigadier said is all true. Their positions match with his information at the time you wish to know about. Furthermore all of their names link with one Secret project that pops up in files from 1985-1989 in terms of files that appear on the server. There is a file regarding this secret project, thusly names ‘Operation Jade Heart,’ bit camp if you ask me, anyway the file is one the UNIT server under the title “Jade Heart 1990-present day. Updated by commanding officer in charge of case when appropriate.” Thought that was a bit funny. So I did some more digging and found that the commanding officer in charge of this project from 1985-89 was none other than Nelson Dalton-Hall. Quite the coincidence if you ask me. And seeing as he is the dead chap I took the liberty of finding the cemetery he is buried in, getting their number, and obtaining a list of blood and spousal relatives.”

Ianto handed Jack a sizable brown folder. Jack smirked.

“You did all this in…” He looked at his watch. “37 minutes?”

Ianto grinned.

“You can thank me at dinner. Now however, I think you have some phone calls to make.”

Ianto picked up the phone and handed it to Jack.

“Coffee?”

Jack grinned wide.

“Oh Ianto Jones… what am I going to do with you?”

“A few ideas spring to mind Sir. Phone. Make. Calls. I will be back in a moment.”

Ianto left the office and Jack laughed out loud. He dialled the number of Harold Stork’s nursing home and patiently waited for an answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was a longer chapter than I thought. I hope you appreciate this. The more I write the more I love this story so Please let me know what you are feeling in the comments. I really love hearing what you guys think.   
> Keep it cool guys :)


	6. Chapter 6

Number 8 and number 6 were sitting side by side, looking out of the docking bay window. They could see far out into the galaxy. The young pair were good friends and more importantly, trusted each other. A trait not often found in their profession. 

“So what 8? You’re questioning this whole thing?”

8 shrugged.

“You could say that… I just… I’ve killed about 1400 people, I did it to get this job. You know, where I grew up, coming here was every kids dream. And I did it.”

6 sighed, sipping his drink. 

“You want out then?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then what do you want?”

“I just want to know where I could go from here.”

6 thought about this.

“You could go to the Vegas galaxies. Or just start over all together. New identity, new life. Whatever you wanna be.”

8 looked out into the void of space, and turned back to the ship. 

“What about 4?”

“What about her?”

“I can’t just… I can’t just leave her.”

“She never loved you 8, she never will. 4 is… 4 is 4 and she is going for number one. She won’t ever leave.”

8 turned and faced his friend.

“How do I get out?” 

**

“Hello this is Jack Harkness, do you have a Harold Stork in your residence?”

“Um. Yes Mr Harkness, we do. Is there a reason for your call?”

The girl sounded sweet. Jack wondered if he could flirt his way through this one nice and easy.”

“Yes there is, and It’s Captain, not Mr. What can I call you?”

She coughed a little sit.

“Donna, Donna Morgan, Captain.”

“Well Donna Morgan. I would love it if you would just clear me straight onto Mr Stork there. It’s rather important.”

He could practically hear her decision.

“Of course sir. Doing it now.”

There were two beeps, then a ringing, then a voice.

“’Ello.”

“Dr Harold Stork?”

“That’s me. Who wants to know?”

His voice was thick with a north London accent, hoarse with age and perhaps tiredness.

“Captain Jack Harkness. Torchwood.”

He heard the elder man swallow.

“What is…? What is Torchwood doing ringing me? I’m an old man Captain, not one for your tangos now. And how old must you be now Jack? Older than me.”

“Too old to Count Harold. And I don’t need you for any field work. I need information.”

“I’m old. I’m tired. I’m forgetful. What could I possibly know?”

“Does the project ‘Jade Heart’ mean anything to you?”

There was silence.

“Harry??”

“Y-Yes.”

“Hmm. Thought so.”

“I don’t know how you know about this. But-but...”

“But what Harry? Tell me everything you know.”

The old man was scared. Jack was confused. 

“Tell me!”

“Okay. Okay… Jade Heart was the original plan to experiment on you. UNIT had just learned of your… special skills, in what, 85?”

“Yeah.”

“Well. Nelson wanted to know more, and see if we could replicate it for the soldiers. He used to tell me what we were doing was for the good grace of the human race.”

“So what did you do?”

“I created the solution. The blue vial. I worked in the scientific department with The Brigadier. He took no part in it, but then, he’s Brig, he could get away with anything…”

“Why did you do it?”

Harold stopped, his throat contracting with a sudden grief. 

“Harold?”

“N-Nelson… he took my wife a-and my baby girl. He had something on everyone who worked on Jade. He said all I had to do was create a solution that would paralyse you so we   
could get you here, then my wife and baby would be safe. Please… I-I thought I was going to lose them…”

Jack closed his eyes and took a deep breath. 

“It’s okay Harold. Thank you for the information. Two last things.”

“Anything?”

“Was there an antidote?”

“No need, the effects wore off after an hour or two. It was only designed to incapacitate you.”

“Right. And did you create the poison?”

“What poison?”

Jack weighed his choices.

“Nothing. Thanks again.”

He hung up and sighed, noting how the man had lost all tact as soon as the project was mentioned. Like he was still scared that Nelson would take away his children…

Next on the list. Agnes Smith-Jones.

**

Ianto Jones was tired. Like really fucking tired. It was nearly 9pm on a Sunday. He had had zero weekend, barely any sleep for the past 2 weeks and seen less of his flat than he had   
seen the pub. He was knackered. And so was everyone else. Tosh was on her computer, going frame by frame through the security from Gwen’s attack. Ianto could tell she was about to drop. Her eyes had great bags under them and she was hunched over, staring at the screen. Gwen was at her desk, flicking through reports from the past week’s field missions and signing them where she had to. Ianto looked down to the autopsy where Owen had taken a short break while the scanner brushed over the metal tip of the knife. There was a small pot with whatever sample of the acid Owen had managed to draw from both the body and the knife; there was a scan going on that one too. 

They all seemed to collectively look up from their work and sigh together. Ianto was about to hopefully suggest they go home. But a shrill beeping filled the room. He hung his head.

“Fan-bloody-tastic.”

Tosh brought up the reading.

“2-3 weevils spotted in Bute Park. Anyone want?”

Gwen put down her file and before she could even say a word Owen was talking.

“Gwen, don’t even think about it. You’re still technically concussed.”

She closed her mouth and picked up the file again. Ianto rolled his eyes and reached for his comm unit on the desk.

“Fine I’ll go.”

He clicked his neck and rolled his shoulders, finished off the last of his coffee and grabbed his coat. Owen picked up his too.

“My scan is running, I have a few to round up some weevils. Tosh you co-ordinate.”

“Got it.”

Owen and Ianto left out of the cog door into the night, hoping they would be home soon.

**

“Hello Mr…?”

“Mr Smith-Jones. Who are you?”

“Captain Jack Harkness. Is your wife, Agnes, home?”

There was a long pause and a huff. Then the sounds of the phone being pulled away from his face. 

“AGNES! PHONE CALL!”

Mr Smith Jones had a thick Scottish accent, this accent filled Jack’s ear once more.

“She’s on her way Captain.”

“Thank you sir.”

There was a muffle and suddenly an elder female voice greeted him. 

“Hello?”

“Agnes. My name is Captain Jack Harkness. I work for Torchwood.”

“The Captain… yes I know who you are.”

“You worked for UNIT.”

It wasn’t a question.

“Yes I did. For 30 years. Why is Torchwood ringing me at this hour? I’m going to miss countdown--”

“Operation Jade Heart.”

She fell silent. Jack heard shuffling footsteps as she walked away from her husband and closed a door between them.

“What do you want to know?”

“What work did you personally do regarding it?”

She sighed.

“I recruited young men. I-I assessed them on their intelligence, their fitness, their ability to follow orders and… and their expendability.”

“Why?”

She chuckled coldly.

“Because Nelson asked me to.”

“What did you need the young men for?”

“Nelson… Nelson wanted them to do his legwork. Put their names on paper, so that if we were found out, they would be the ones responsible. Not him.”

Jack swallowed.

“What did he have on you?”

Agnes sighed and cast her mind back all those years ago.

“My husband. We were only recently married. I-I had just had twins. We had got a big house with a high mortgage. I needed the pay-wage from UNIT. Edward’s job wouldn’t support us both…”

“He threated to fire you.”

“And to take away my job credibility. So I would never be able to work again.”

Jack let out a long breath.

“So how did it end?”

“In 87, the incident at Torchwood Cardiff… It was the recruits I had selected that had messed up. They sent the order to the Twelve too soon, when you weren’t even in the Torchwood HUB. Nelson blamed me for their failure.”

Jack could hear she was quietly crying.

“And 3 nights later 6 men came to our house in the middle of the night and… and took my babies away…”

A great sob crashed through her body. Jack was stunned, anger rising in his chest. He gripped the phone and kept his voice level.

“I am so sorry Agnes.”

She composed slightly.

“It’s-it’s okay… It was a long time ago. I have a son now, George Michael. Named after his brothers.”

“I’m so sorry. I understand, I really do, I wish… I wish there is something I could do.”

“Don’t worry Captain… Nelson- Nelson was a cruel man. Everyone who worked on Jade heart was trapped by him. He deserved what he got in the end…”

Jack nodded.

“Thank you for your help.”

“No problem. If you need any more information, just call.”

“I will. Thank you and I’m sorry.”

“Good night Captain.”

The line clicked dead. Jack dropped the phone onto the desk and picked up a glass paperweight. He threw it across the room and revelled in the sound of smashing glass against cold concrete. 

**

“I really bloody hate this job sometimes.”

Owen was dragging a weevil under its armpits into the SUV. Ianto was next to him, dragging another by the leg.

“I completely get you. It’s half 9 on a Sunday. Countdown is on…”

Owen laughed out loud and closed the boot.

“Never saw you as the type for countdown.”

“You should give it a try. You might be surprised.”

“I doubt it mate. Let’s get back. I’m shattered.”

“Ditto.”

They drove back to the hub in exhausted silence, thinking of coffee.

**

Upon entrance, Ianto and Owen saw Tosh and Gwen on the sofa, looking worried. They dumped the weevils in the cells then came back up to see what was going on.

“Everything okay Tosh?”

Owen asked. The woman shook her head.

“It’s Jack. He’s throwing things.”

Ianto rolled his eyes.

“Glass things?” Tosh nodded. “Damn.”

“Well, someone has to go in there.”

Owen said. They all slowly turned their heads to Ianto who was standing, hands in pockets, oblivious to their thought process. He turned to face them. And rolled his eyes again. 

“Oh bloody hell. Cowards you lot are. Bloody cowards. You all owe me.”

He was met with 3 pairs of mischievous eyes.

He walked to Jack’s office and slowly opened the door.

“Jack?”

The older man put down the plate that had been on his desk and turned to the younger man. 

“What Ianto?”

The younger man closed the door and shifted on his feet.

“Do you… do you want to tell me why you are throwing plates and causing a lot of clean up for me later?”

The older man sighed and slumped back into his chair. His anger draining, Jack looked at Ianto. 

“I’m sorry, I will clean this up.”

Ianto shook his head.

“No you won’t, and that’s okay. Really it is. But what I’m not okay with is you throwing plates and having no reason. So what’s happened?”

Jack sat up and crossed his arms.

“UNIT killed Agnes’ 2 babies, to threaten her. Because of me. Because she ‘messed up’ the attack on me. Those 2 lives. Are on me.”

He put his head in his hands.

“Jack… this, none of this, is your fault. This is Nelson-What’s-his-name- this is on him.” He took Jack’s hand. “We have to get to the bottom of this, to stop anyone else getting   
hurt. The team needs you Jack.”

Jack seemed to sober, he took a long breath and squeezed Ianto’s hand.

“Thank you.”

His voice was barely a whisper. 

“Come on Jack. 2 more calls okay? Ian Lewis and Patrick Kornsmoker. Let’s find out what we can and end this.”

Ianto stood up and made to walk out of the office.

“Ianto?”

He turned.

“Jack?”

“You should head home. All of you.”

Ianto nodded, poked his head out the door and informed the others. Jack watched as they filed out, sluggish, exhausted. He wasn’t surprised to see Ianto walk back holding two coffees and playing a small smile. He sat opposite Jack, handed him the phone and the next number, and then sipped his coffee carefully.

“Ianto-”

“-I believe you have a phone call to make, sir.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, but I only just got on holiday and I have had a fuck load of work to get done. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and you know you reaaaaaaly want to leave a review. They give me life. Regardless, hope you like.

It was 3am by the time Jack and Ianto went to bed. Ian Lewis had given Jack good information about how they had contacted the twelve in the first place and Patrick was only too happy to forward the files he had on the topic over to them. It was when they heard that Jack was planning to put an end to the whole thing that they became so enthusiastic. It turned out, the others were right, Nelson had something on every one of them. Ian had been having an affair at the time, and Nelson threatened both his wife and his mistress, who was in fact a man. Patrick was the only one unmarried, so his mother was kidnapped and held at an unknown location for 3 months. He only got her back after he fully agreed to help Nelson. 

Jack concluded as he went to bed, the more they found out about this Nelson guy, the more he was wishing he wasn’t dead. Jack put the thoughts out of his head as Ianto put his arm around him and closed his eyes. It could all wait until tomorrow. Well… today.

**

At 9am Tosh walked through the door holding her laptop and smiling slightly. Jack was already up, sat at his desk and leafing through the files Patrick had sent.

“Morning’ Tosh.” He called. “Sleep well?”

“Hey Jack. I have good news.”

He frowned.

“Does that mean you slept for like an hour?”

She nodded but handed him her laptop. He accepted and looked at the screen. His eyes suddenly brightened.

“Oh Toshiko, you beauty!”

He stood up and kissed her cheek, just as Ianto climbed out of the manhole cover wearing his suit bar waistcoat and jacket. 

“Keeping it PG I hope sir. Morning Tosh.”

He smiled at Jack and walked over to the older woman, putting his arm round her.

“You know me Ianto, only the very best at 9am! Our Toshiko is a genius!”

Ianto leaned on the ladder.

“Tell me something I don’t know. Go on- what’s the story?”

Jack turned the laptop screen where an image of a face with part of a white tattoo on it was blown up. Ianto raised an eyebrow.

“Braced for genius…”

Jack pressed enter and the image reverted, the screen split. Half was of the original image of the man with the tattoo and another was an intergalactic mugshot for the shadow proclamation. The same tattoo across the face. 

“Number 11. The tattoo is of a white snake. Knitted into each snake is the number for each member. This one matches number 11. And he has been arrested by the SP twice, once after his joining the Twelve.” Tosh grinned and continued. “You see Ianto. We know which one of them is here. And it gets better.”

“It does?”

“They have an individual tracker in the tattoo ink, its frequency matches their number. I read it in the UNIT files from 93. This means we can find out where he is.”

Jack was grinning. Tosh closed her laptop and leaned on the desk, she smirked at Ianto.

“Okay. I will give you that one. You are a genius.”

Tosh and Jack high fived slowly and Ianto rolled his eyes. 

“Tosh, all we do now is track that signal, okay?”

“On it.”

“And Ianto?”

Ianto turned to look at Jack.

“Jack?”

“I would love a coffee.”

Rolling his eyes and smiling fondly, Ianto made his way to the coffee machine.

**

By the time Owen got into the Hub, Gwen was already at her desk, smiling as she sipped her coffee. He walked past her and sat at his own desk, finding his own mug there, steaming and vibrating as the desk hummed with the life of the monitors. Tosh was at her desk, she looked like she had been living there. She was surrounded by paper, pens, open folders, empty mugs, an energy bar wrapper and a copy of an extreme advanced hacking guide for the incredibly talented. He sipped his coffee and turned to Jack’s office where Ianto was just walking from.

“Morning Owen.”

“Ianto. What’s going on?”

“Tosh is tracking our assassin. Or trying to. There are a few levels of interference even she is finding enough to break a sweat.”

Owen raised his eyebrows and his mug.

“My scan done?”

“Finished 20 minutes ago. Both of them. Report is waiting.”

“Fantastic. Thanks mate.” Owen stood up and moved to the stairs.   
“Oh, and how is our enigmatic leader today?”

Ianto glanced at the office and smiled. 

“Better.”

Owen nodded and went down to the bay.  
**

After delivering another round, Ianto headed to his desk down in the archives. He had been trying and failing to gain access to the UNIT archive. However Toshiko was a genius, and she gave him a few pointers. Within 10 minutes he was breaking down their firewalls. It only took him half an hour to find what he needed. As Ianto read down the screen he felt equal parts sick, amazed, horrified and impressed.

**

Gwen was compiling a list of everything they knew so far, and with the recent information from the 4 UNIT heads, they had a pretty good idea of what was going on. Ianto moved over to Gwen’s desk, leaning on it and looking at her through his eyelashes.

“Gwen.”

“Ianto. What’s up?”

“How would you feel about a road trip?”

She raised her eyebrows.

“Where exactly?”

“2 places actually. You see, I just happened to acquire a small piece of information out of a secure archive I’m not supposed to have access to and I need someone who back me up… yah know… so I don’t get killed.”

He picked up his coat and handed Gwen hers. The young man poked his head round Jack’s door.

“Weevil alert, me and Gwen are taking it.”

Jack looked up, nodded and smiled.

“Okay, be careful. Call it in.”

“Will do.”

He walked back out, and with Gwen following, went straight out the cog door.

As they walked across the Quay, Gwen spoke quietly.

“Why did we lie to Jack?”

Ianto looked down at her.

“I have to be sure... Oh, by the way, do you own a shovel?”

**

Owen was hunched over his laptop. 

“Interesting... Very interesting…. Oooh… that is nice! You beauty!”

He pulled the sample out of the scanner and read the screen with a grin. The information was telling him what he had expected, only in more detail. He printed it off and scrawled at the top of the page.

“REPORT – AcidKnife”

**

Ianto and Gwen drove for an hour or so with one of Gwen’s shovels in the back. Ianto said nothing until they pulled up in front of a small cottage in the welsh countryside. He looked at her with a small smile.

“You gonna tell me what’s going on then?”

He nodded.

“We are at the house of Miss Martin, aged 88.”

“What has she got to do with all of this?”

“Well Miss Martin only became Miss Martin when her husband died. Before that, she was Mrs Dalton-hall.”

Gwen’s eyes lit up.

“Oh my God… Ianto, why are we here?”

“She has something we need.”

He got out the car and walked to the front door, knocking twice and waiting. After a few moments it swung open, revealed a small old women with wrinkles so bad you could barely see her eyes.

“Miss Martin?”

“Who’s asking?”

“DI Ianto Jones and this is PC Gwen Cooper. We are here to ask you a few questions about your husband.”

“He’s dead.”  
“We know. Could we come in?”

The old women thought about it, then shuffled to the side, allowing the two to come in. 

Gwen and Ianto sat on a too small sofa, shoulder to shoulder. Ianto waited until Miss Martin was sat before he began.

“Ma’am, there is a certain item we know you to be holding that we need access to. A key.”

The old woman’s eyes raised and Ianto saw her pupils for the first time.

“You don’t mean….?”

“Yes.”

“Nelson made me promise.”

“As you said yourself ma’am, he is dead. We need that key.”

“Why?”

“To save people. The information locked away is gravely important.”  
“I cant.”

Ianto stood up, Gwen thought he looked so much different out here, so much bigger…

“If you don’t give it to us. We will take it.”

He stared at her. Blue eyes staring into brown. Miss Martin bowed her head and took a necklace from her neck. At the end was a small key with the old UNIT logo on. 

“Take it. And may God forgive what you find.”

Ianto took the key and stormed out, back to the car. Slightly shocked, Gwen stood, quickly apologised and chased after Ianto. The engine was already running when Gwen clambered in, and she had barely closed the door by the time Ianto had sped off.

“Bloody Hell Ianto! What is going on! What is that key? You had better start answering me! Ianto Jones!”

Ianto didn’t reply. He was gunning it at 90 down little country lanes. Night was drawing in now, and Gwen was getting more and more agitated with every turn of the SUV. The in car phone started ringing, displaying Jack’s caller ID. Ianto ignored it and kept driving. The persistent ring was driving Gwen insane. He turned to Ianto in her seat and used her big brown eyes.

“Ianto. You are scaring me. What is going on?”

He looked at her for the first time since the house and smiled the smallest bit.

“I’m sorry. But we have to be quick. Marin back there will have called the police by now. And we have to get there before they do.”

“Get where?”

The pulled up outside some iron gates with vines wrapped up them like some twisted mating dance. Ianto hopped out of the car and ran in.

“GRAB THE SHOVEL!”

He yelled to her. Gwen got out, picked up the shovel and looked at the sign above the gates.

“Rock Creek Cemetery.” She whispered to herself. Then jogged after Ianto.

**

Number 8 was sitting on his bed, a glass of hyper vodka balanced on his knee and a bag packed to his side. Number 6 had developed a plan for him to get out of the galaxy, it was risky, but it was simply time. After so many years trying to get here, he realised he didn’t want to be this person anymore. This killer. 

The missions, the murder, the torture. 8 asked himself if it was worth it anymore. And when his mind supplied the answer… he knew he had to leave. The time was approaching fast. A local tourist ship would be passing any second, with their docks open for any willing customers. 6 had dropped the shields of their ship so that when the signal came, he could transport out. 

It was silent for a few seconds. 

Then.

Beep.

He pressed the transport immediately and was suddenly no longer sitting on his bed. His bag was next to him on the floor. A white floor. 2 men in brown gowns met him.

“Good evening sir. And where will we be travelling today?”

8 thought. He thought about the mission, those people on earth that number 11 was trying to kill. He thought about 4, and number one. And how he would likely die. He also thought about every person he had ever killed, the life that had been taken by him for nothing! Nothing other than a seat round a table and a tattoo on his cheek. He made his choice.

“Sol 3. Earth.”

They nodded.

“And your name, species, planet of origin, age, criminal record?”

“I’m 29, a vauxton born on LocA43. No criminal record…”

“Your name sir.”

“Numb- no. Sorry. My name is… My name is Luca. Short for Lucastronbolavich Ruen.”

“A Ruen? We know your father.”

“Yes. I suppose you would.”

“Anyway sir. This was to your room please.”

Luca followed the men down a hall.

“By the way… do you have a tattoo removal service?”

The pair looked at the snake on his cheek and nodded.

“For 200 credits.”

“Thanks.”

The unlocked the room, a small place with a single bed, a bathroom area, a small kitchen set up and a drinks bar. 

“Your key, Sir. We will arrive at sol 3 in 2-4 days. Enjoy your stay.”

They left him on his own. Luca sat down on the bed and sighed. A new start. 

**

Jack was a little worried. Ianto and Gwen had left 2 hours ago and still had failed to check in. He had tried ringing but he got voicemail. Sighing, he rang Gwen.  
Ring ring

Ring ring   
Ring ring

Ring ring

Ring ring

Ring ring

Hello Gwen Cooper can’t come to the Phone right now. Please leave a message or call me on another line. 

Beeeeeeeeeeeep

“Hey Gwen. It’s Jack. Can you check in please? Let me know you and Ianto are okay. Bye.”

He hung up and sighed. It was nearly 7 and he had been hoping to have dinner with Ianto tonight but it looked like that wasn’t going to happen. Damn.

**

Ianto was digging. He was about 5 ft down and grunting as he threw each mound of dirt away. Gwen had been told not to answer her phone and to keep on the lookout for police. It was nearly dark in the Cardiff winter and she felt a chill run through her.

She turned quickly at Ianto’s cheer.

He was using the butt of the shovel to break the wood of the old coffin.

“Ianto! Jesus Christ!”

He pulled the wood apart and as Gwen looked down she saw the man’s dead face. She looked away. Ianto was grunting again, pulling something from the back on the coffin. She jumped when he threw a medium sized black box onto the ground next to her and jumped up. He stood next to her, covered in dirt and with his hands bleeding. His eyes sparkled.

“Run!”

They heard the police getting close, blues and twos blasting away in the night. The hopped into the SUV, safely locking the box in the boot and throwing the shovel in the back. To mask their purpose there, Ianto switched on their own flashing lights and drive away back towards the city. 

The phone rang again. This time, Ianto answered it.

“Ianto Jones.”  
“Ianto. Where the hell have you been? I have been ringing you and Gwen for the past 2 and a half hours trying to find you. You know the rules. Comms on at all times when on a weevil hunt. What if something had happened to the both of you? Would we have known? No. and worse still, we have no idea where you are because you didn’t tell us where this weevil was. So God knows you could have been lying in a ditch somewhere in the outskirts of Cardiff and we wouldn’t bloody know. And Gwen Cooper! You should have answered your goddamn phone! When I ring you. You answer. Understand? The both of you? I will deal with the pair of you when you get back. And I guarantee I am not happy. You better be on your way back.”

“We are.”

Ianto supplied.

“Good. Hurry up.”

Jack cut the line. Gwen looked down feeling properly told off. When she glanced at Ianto, who she expected to see frowning and looking guilty, she was surprised to see him still smiling. 

“Ianto?” she asked quietly. “What is in that box?”

He turned to her with eyes full of mischief. He looked his age right now. Young, only 25. Covered in mud and dirt, the biggest smile she had ever seen him bare, driving through the winding lanes of outer Cardiff with an angry boss waiting for them and probably a weeks’ worth of picking up Myfanwy’s shit as payback. He didn’t look like he normally did, the mask of professionalism firmly in place. He looked young, he looked free and he looked happy. Gwen stared at him, soaking up this rarity. She asked again.

“What’s in that box Ianto?”

With a small chuckle he replied.

“I don’t know. The file said it had all the information we would need. But I have no idea!” He laughed again. “And that never happens!”

Gwen couldn’t help it, his laughter was infectious. She started chuckling too. 

“So we just risked arrest and dug up a dead man for something that could be useless.”

He nodded and turned back to the road.

“Yes, yes we did.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, but I only just got on holiday and I have had a fuck load of work to get done. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and you know you reaaaaaaly want to leave a review. They give me life. Regardless, hope you like.


	8. Chapter 8

As Ianto parked the SUV in the underground car park, the adrenaline was starting to dissipate. Suddenly the joy of finding that box and not getting caught was wearing off and the pain in his hands and knees surfaced. He looked at his palms. The right one was still bleeding, the left was covered in wood cuts. Gwen walked round and smiled at him.

“That’s what you get for tearing open a guy’s coffin with your bare hands. Come on, Owen can wrap them.”

He smiled tightly at her, and Gwen saw it. The shift from the life loving 20-something back to the stoic butler, mask firmly in place. Gwen thought about who she had seen in the car… and she already missed him. Grabbing the box, the pair made their way back up to the main up via the underground door. 

Jack was waiting by Tosh’s station with an incredibly angry look on his face. It was late on the Monday night, nearly half 11; jack looked like he was ready to kill them both. And once the immortal caught sight of them, he flared.

“Conference room. Now!”

Ianto walked past him, head down and placed the box on his desk.

“Two ticks.”

“No. Now. Ianto.”

He grabbed Ianto’s upper arm and glanced down, immediately seeing the blood on his sleeve.

“What the hell is this?”

Ianto looked up, his dirt covered face only inches away from Jack’s.

“Jack, really, it’s fine.”

“What the hell happened?”

Jack grabbed Ianto’s hands and held them to his face. He was ready to kick off.

“OWEN!”

Owen came up the stairs yawning.

“You bellowed?” he saw Jack and Ianto and walked over immediately.

“It’s a cut on my hand Owen. That’s all.”

Jack stared at Ianto and spoke though gritted teeth.

“Gwen. Go to the conference room now. And sit down. Owen. Wrap Ianto’s hand. Then send him in.”

He walked away without another word. Ianto rolled his eyes and followed Owen. Gwen picked up the box and went to the conference room. 

**

Luca stared up at the ceiling. His eyes were watering as the tattoo removal ran across his face. 

“Don’t worry sir, nearly done now.”

He grunted in pain, hoping to God that nearly done meant in the next 10 seconds. 

It did not.

**

“Bloody hell teaboy. How did you manage this?”

Ianto smirked. 

“I imagine Jack will tell you in de-brief tomorrow.”

“Hm. I would rather you tell me now.”

Ianto shrugged.

“I tore apart a coffin with my bare hands.”

Owen’s eyebrows disappeared.

“If that is a joke….”

“It’s not.”

“Bloody Hell…”

Owen finished wrapping Ianto’s hand and the younger hopped off the table.

“So this coffin then? Anyone I know?”

“Nelson Dalton-Hall.”

“You what?”

“Our friend Nelson.”

“Wh- Why?”

“He had something we need. Now we have the thing we need. Simple really.”

Owen stared, mouth agape.

“Jack is gonna kill you.”

“Probably. Thanks for the stitches.”

Ianto hopped up the stairs.

“No problem….?”

**

Ianto entered the conference room to see Jack standing at the head of the table and Gwen sitting at one side of the table. Ianto took the seat opposite and between them rested the locked box.

Jack gestured to said object.

“Go on? Tell me this –oh so enlightening- story. And make it quick if you value your Job.”

Ianto scoffed and rolled his eyes. Jack’s eyebrows hit the roof.

“Oh I’m sorry Ianto, you think this situation funny?”

“I think you are over reacting a bit.”

“You think I am over reacting?! You said you were going on a weevil hunt and didn’t call in for 4 hours! What was I supposed to do? Write you a letter of recommendation? You still won’t tell me what happened! And what Gwen says doesn’t make sense. You could have both been dead, murdered by a weevil. And that would have been on my head. So what were you doing that was far too important to tell your boss about?”

Ianto looked up. Gwen almost caught it again, that defiance, that sparkle.

“Getting you your only solid lead.”

Jack spluttered.

“What?”

Ianto stood up and took the key out of his pocket. He slowly unlocked the box.

“I said. Getting you your only solid lead.”

Lifting up the lid, Gwen leaned over, gasping at the contents. Jack shut up, speechless for once. Ianto looked relieved. His plan played out. 

**

Tosh and Owen sat on the sofa watching the hands of the lock tick past 1am. Every few seconds one of them would look towards the still closed door of the boardroom.

“What can they still be doing in there?”

Owen asked, taking a sip of his beer. Tosh shook her head in response, and drank more wine.

“I’m not even sure. Are you sure Ianto meant a literal coffin?”

“Sure sounded like it. I’m confused Tosh. I really am.”

She leaned back on the battered couch.

“I guess we just wait then.”

“I guess so…”

**

It took Jack several long seconds before he could talk. And when he did, it was cold and quick.

“Gwen. Go home. I’m sending you with a warning, never refuse my calls again when in the field or so help me God I will fire your ass into the sun.”

She mock saluted and reluctantly stood up, wanting to stay to find out more. Jack saw her hesitation.

“Don’t worry,” he said smiling a little. “I’m just going to have Ianto debrief me on everything you too got up then send him home too. We will look into all this in the morning. Get some sleep.”

Gwen nodded and smiled at Ianto, then left. She walked past Tosh and Owen and straight home to Rhys.

An hour and 40 minutes later Ianto finished explaining everything, from hacking the UNIT archive, to getting the key, to digging up Nelson’s grave and finally to opening the box. When he was done Jack didn’t look mad anymore. He looked sad, and a little bit impressed, even though he would never admit it.

“You should have told me what was going on.”

He said it so quietly that Ianto could have missed it.

“I know. But I had to be sure, I didn’t want it to be a cold lead. And look-” he took Jack’s hand and held it. “I’m fine, and we now have a solid lead. I know you are mad at me for lying but…”

“Yeah I am mad.”

“And I’m sorry. But…”

“No buts Ianto. Not tonight. I get it okay.”

“Then why are you acting like this?”

Ianto stood up and paced the room. Jack sat on the table, his hands folded in front of him.

“Because Ianto…” He sighed. “Because I thought you were dead… or, or at least fatally injured and there was nothing I could do...”

He walked over to the younger man and kissed his forehead. Ianto frowned, sensing an imminent heart-to-heart. He moved his hand quickly, and changed the subject at the same pace. Like with everything, they pushed it under the rug and ignored the feelings that were so nearly shared. 

**

Despite the fact that Owen and Tosh had only left at about 3am, they were both back within 5 hours, desperate to know what had happened the day before. Gwen came in at half 9, exhausted but just about still running. Ianto looked the worst out of them all, something Jack looked fiendishly smug about. Gwen suspected that Ianto probably got less than an hours sleep that night. But as ever, the young man was delivering the coffee like it was any other Tuesday morning. 

At about 10 Jack came out of his office and addressed them all.

“Okay guys, thanks to Gwen and Ianto, we have a new stack of info to go through. You can thank them when you see inside the box.”

 

Ianto rolled his shoulders and followed Jack to the board room. The others were close behind. On the black table were 4 thick brown folders, a thin folder and one memory stick. In order the folders were names:

The Team of Twelve: Contract.

Accounts

Scientific Experiments: The plans and Pictures

Operation Jade Heart: Closed file.

 

Captain Jack Harkness: Ongoing file.

The memory stick sat at the end, Jack gestured to Tosh who picked it up and plugged it in to the screen. Everyone took their seats and turned to watch the action play out. 

The black screen lifted as an old man turned on the camera. He was wearing a black shirt with the UNIT logo printed across the breast pocket. As he spoke the microphone rumbled.

“Good afternoon. The year is 1987, it has been 2 years since the start of Jade heart and if you are watching this, it means I’m dead. It could mean two things I suppose… one is I am dead and my team mates found his box and are protecting it. The other option is the Twelve have found it, in which case they need this information…”

They all turned to Jack.

“Anyway. My name is Nelson Dalton-Hall. I am a UNIT head and in this video you will learn everything we do about Captain Jack Harkness, and why it is vitally important we bring him in. Bring him in and… and find a way to kill him.”

“He is a torchwood agent, the longest serving one in history. We know next to nothing about him, except that he can’t die. There is more about this in the Harkness ongoing file. I can’t explain it all because I don’t know half of it. His condition came to UNIT’s attention in 85. I imagine it wasn’t by Harkness’s choice that we found out his little secret but we have a job to protect the earth. And we don’t know enough about that man to feel safe in the knowledge that he will be the one around for the longest. 

Original plans had us shooting him into space and draining the oxygen. But that would cost tax payers money and we couldn’t get the allowance. Now we have arranged Operation Jade heart. The Captain is in London currently on conference with the London Unit office. When he returns Jade Heart will be put into action. The full details of the mission are in the file Operation Jade Heart: Closed file. And only those with Level 10 UNIT clearance have permission to access it. 

The accounts file speaks for itself, as does the scientific experiments. That is a list of operations and surgeries that Harkness will be subjected too. Finally, the key element of this Operation. The Team of Twelve. We came to understand them some time ago, but only recently enlisted their help. The contract is outlines in that file, but the jist of the situation is, we hired the Team of Twelve to assassinate Torchwood and bring Harkness to us. We needed a no strings attached agreement, and only they could provide such a thing. We debated if we needed to kill all of Torchwood, but eventually we came to realise that Harkness’s team wouldn’t stop looking for him, should be kidnaped and ‘killed.’ So they all have to go. 

Anyway, that about concludes all of the information you need to continue Operation Jade Heart. Use it wisely, and together, without Captain Jack Harkness, we can make this world a better, and safer place.”

The video went black and they all looked at Toshiko, she quietly said.

“There is still a minute and a half of footage left.”

They waited, and as quickly as he had disappeared, Nelson was back. Only this time he was wearing a black hoody and had dark patches under his eyes. His voice was a shadow of the powerful growl they had heard less than a minute ago.

“Oh… Oh my God. This is Dalton-Hall. Jade Heart failed. Some bastard in Agnes’s division cocked up the timing. The Twelve killed the Torchwood team before Harkness even arrived. We can’t move again for him, he would find out, he is already suspicious. My God.”

He took a deep, shuddering breathe and rubbed his hand down his face.

“A message. For the Twelve. They have to act again. Bring him to UNIT in 30 years’ time. Harkness will have moved on by then, new team, possibly new planet. Where ever he is in the universe… in 30 years we bring him in and end this.”

He slammed his hand against the white plaster wall and moved closer to the camera.

“He will be dead. I will make sure of it. The Team of Twelve will destroy Jack Harkness from the outside in, and that little team of his. I don’t ever want to hear that man’s name again, unless it is followed by the words ‘He. Is. Dead.’ Torchwood will be nothing more than a name in a history book, followed by a picture of Harkness’s dead body. This ends. One way or another. This ends.”

The image went black and Tosh Nodded, signalling there was nothing left. They were all silent. The echo of Nelson’s words ringing in their ears. Suddenly a shrill beep filled them instead. Tosh stood.   
“Rift activity.”

**

A polite knock on the door woke Luca from his deep sleep, he stood up and looked at his tattoo less face in the mirror. Smiling, he opened the door. One of the staff members were there.

“Good news sir, we have arrived at Sol 3 a day early, you may be transported down to the surface now.”

Luca grinned and grabbed his still unpacked bag. He walked out of the room and followed the staff to the transport docks.

“Any particular place you would like to land?”

Luca thought.

“Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom, Europe.”

“Your wish sir, is our command. I do hope you enjoyed your stay with us.”

“Thank you.”

And just like that the ship disappeared and he was standing outside a pub. He had read about pubs. Luca had learnt all about the rift and how transport dock used it to harness their energy, he didn’t even have time to think about it before a black SUV pulled up and 5 angry looking people with guns were in front of his face.

“PUT YOUR HANDS UP!”

That was an interesting accent. Luca dropped his bag and raised his hands.

“I… I…. I’m Luca. A vauxton born on LocA43. I really mean no harm. Just wanted to help. There are some people in danger here and I know how to help.”

The one with the coat slowly dropped his gun to his side and walked closer to Luca.

He stalked close to his face and inspected the mark left by the tattoo removal.

“You recently get a tattoo removed…. Luca?”

He nodded and swallowed around the lump forming in his throat.

“Come on. You are coming with us.”


	9. Chapter 9

Luca sat in a dark room, the light above him was flickering, he imagined it was doing that intimidate him. He wasn’t under any illusions, the people here thought he was a bad guy. And they had every reason to. The Captain had brought him down here a little under an hour ago and had told him to wait quietly. Only the man in the suit had been since, he had given him a coffee and a quick smile. 

Luca waited and hoped that soon they would see him for what he was trying to do.

**

“Luca. Probably short for something, no one form LocA43 has a name shorter than 10 letters. I think he is a former member of the twelve. He had recently had a tattoo removed, you wouldn’t get that done unless you were serious about leaving.” 

Jack was standing behind Tosh as she worked, spouting off his ideas while Ianto handed out coffees. It was midday Tuesday and none of them felt like they had slept for at least a week. And truth be told, they probably hadn’t slept more than a few hours in that week anyway. Owen was grabbing his kit to go take a blood sample from Luca, so Tosh could run it though their species database and see if they had come across anything like Luca before. He was humanoid, and Jack knew the bare minimum about the species. Other than that, they were clueless. 

After Owen had got the blood and was running it, Jack grabbed a file of info on Luca (really only a page in a brown folder) and headed down there. 

The younger man looked up and smiled a little bit. Jack replied with one of his own, and sat down opposite.

“You okay? Can we get you anything?”

“I’m fine thank you.”

“Good. Now, you told us that there are people in danger, do you know what people?”

Luca nodded his head.

“They are from Torchwood. That is the target the Twelve were given.”

Jack raised his eyebrows.

“You are a member of the Twelve?”

“No! Yes, well… I used to be. I left, about 3 days ago, earth time.”

“Why?”

Luca took a long breath.

“I couldn’t do it anymore. My family pushed me to go for the Twelve. It’s an admirable career path on Loc. Only the best get in, and my father was convinced we were the best….”

“How did you get out?”

“My friend helped me. Number 6. He was older than me. He lowered the shields on the Twelve ship so I could transport out and onto a passing cruise liner.”

“Why would he do that?”

“Because he knew I was breaking, and if Number 1 found out I was breaking…. I would have been dead within the hour.”

“So he cared for you.”

“Yes. And… and there was a girl. Number 4.”

“This girl….?”

“I loved her. But she was after 1’s position. I knew she would never love me back. And I couldn’t do the job anymore. I didn’t want to be that guy. The stuff I did to get that job…. I  
should be in jail for the rest of my life.”

Jack sat back and took a long breath. 

“So you left and came here. You could have gone anywhere. Why here?”

“I told you. Torchwood is in danger. You are in danger.”

“Me?”

“You’re the Captain?”

Jack nodded.

“It’s you that we were told to get. I only joined 4 years ago, but this job, the job to kill Torchwood and get you, that’s been told since long before I joined. The client wanted us to complete the job… even after he died.”

“Nelson?”

“I never knew his name. I just knew that Number 11 had been sent here to finish the job. Stuff got worse for everyone when the box of supplies, the darts, never made it to him. 11 called in when he located the base, but he said he was unable to take any of Torchwood, only causality was…”

“Was an innocent.”

“We’re not supposed to go against the mission orders. Number 11, as far as we know, is still operating to try and kill your team, and capture you.”

“What are the orders once I am… captured?”

“To take you back to the twelve ship. Originally it was to take you to the New York UNIT base under cover of Darkness. But since the client’s death and the unofficial  
discontinuation of Jade Heart, we were instructed by the accomplice to take you back to the ship and…. And dispose of you there.”

“Accomplice?”

“The guys think it was the wife who called it in.”

Jack was up the stairs before he had finished the sentence.

“IANTO! OWEN! Go to the wife’s house and bring her in! Now!”

They went out the cog door without another word and Jack went back to Luca.

“You believe me?”

Jack nodded.

“I believe that a job like yours could affect you and make you want to leave. I believe that you love that girl, that you have good reason to be here, that you want to help.”

Luca grinned. 

“So you will let me help you?” 

Jack nodded, yet still looked stern.

“But. If you show any sign of communicating with the Twelve or trying to sabotage this team you will be instantly executed. You understand?”

“Absolutely.”

“Brilliant. Welcome to Torchwood. Follow me.”

They walked upstairs together and saw Tosh sat at her desk smiling. Gwen was leaning on the wall by the sofa and giving that PC Gwen Copper smile she only used on traumatised witnesses and children under 10. Jack patted Luca on the back.

“Okay Luca. This is Tosh and Gwen, you will be spending majority of your time with Toshiko here so get acquainted.” Jack let Luca sit in the chair next to Tosh and smiled when  
they shook hands. “Gwen, anything funky come up in the blood scan?”

Gwen shook her head.

“Nothing. He’s your regular Joe.”

“Besides the fact he’s an alien mass murdering ex-assassin on the run who has changed his ways and come to help the people he was ordered to kill. Sure, your average Joe.” 

Jack threw an affectionate glance at Luca then walked to his office. 

**

Ianto was driving and Owen was in the back of the SUV with the newly arrested Miss Martin. She had been half way through packing a getaway bag when they arrived at the house, so while Owen arrested her, Ianto went through the house and found a few more files on how to contact the Twelve. Now they were half way home and Ianto was seriously considering a gag for the old women.

“You can’t do this ya know!? I ‘aven’t done nothing wrong! I just did what me husband asked! What Nelson asked! You don’t understand! I’m a good woman!”

Ianto rolled his eyes while turning the corner and put the radio on quietly, to silence out the annoying elder. 

**

Jack looked up at the sound of the door alarm, seeing a grim faced Ianto walk in with Owen behind hauling Miss Martin, he stood and walked to the gangway. Owen walked past  
him towards the cells and Ianto went to his desk and deposited the files he had collected. Jack raised an eyebrow.

“More files on the Twelve. I will have a comb through after coffee.”

“The arrest went well then?”

“Well we got her. I think you should let us gag them though. She didn’t stop talking.”

Jack chuckled and patted Ianto’s shoulder.

“I will make it worth your while.”

Ianto’s mood lifted with his eyebrow as Jack walked away.

“Luca! How are you and Tosh getting on?”

Luca looked up from where he had been typing on Tosh’s computer.

“Very well! I love this mainframe you’ve got set up. It’s fantastic!”

Tosh smiled and nodded to Jack.

“He was the tech liaison for the Twelve. He’s intergalactic good.” 

Jack laughed.

“Okay you two, keep working, and see what you can find out about 11. I’m sure Luca will be more than happy to help.”

He walked over to Gwen who was sat at her desk with paper work. She looked up and offered a gap-toothed smile. 

“Just booking our new inmate. The wife. She’s going to offer some new insight I hope.”

Jack smiled back.

“Brilliant, I think me and Ianto will interview her, break out the old Good cop Bad cop routine. Ianto does love a role play.”

He winked at Gwen’s grimace.

“Oh piss off you two. Get back to work.”

She laughed at his retreating form, then let her face fall only when no one could see her.

“Owen!”

Jack’s booming voice greeted the younger man. Owen looked up and offered a crooked grin.

“Ah Captain, stopped harassing the workforce yet?”

“Never. How are we getting on?”

“Just fine. I’ve taken a blood sample from the old lady and just finished her physical check-up. She’s fine, bit of a stiff knee but nothing concerning. I’ve sent her down the  
interview with Ianto. You heading there now?”

Jack nodded.

“Brilliant.” He looked at his watch. Only 3pm. “Jesus, is that the time. God it feels like 10pm. I’m knackered.”

“Me too Owen, I know it’s been a busy case and in fact, a busy month. But hopefully we will get a bit of a break after this. Regardless I’m ordering you all a day off once this case  
wraps.”

“I’ll drink to that.”

He lifted his coffee mug and took a sip.

“Good luck on the interview with granny smith back there. She’s a bit of a talker.”

“So Ianto told me.”

“Speaking of the Welsh one. He okay?”

“Tired I think.”

“Yeah… keep an eye on him, he seemed a bit… off? When we were picking Agatha Christie up, he was bloody snappy.”

“Yeah, tired. But I will keep an eye out. Thanks Owen.”

“Anytime. I will finish my paper work and get it filed.”

“You file your paperwork now? Ianto might kiss you.”

“God I hope not, your thing not mine. Now piss off, I’ve got work to do.”

Jack laughed and left the autopsy bay. He walked towards the coffee machine where he knew Ianto would be.

“There he is. I have your Coffee sir, and the notes for the interview.”

Ianto said as Jack approached. Jack grinned.

“Thanks Ianto.” He took a sip and moaned obscenely. “Just how I like it. Every time you get it perfect.”

“It’s part of my charm.”

“Charming indeed.”

“Indeed sir.”

“Ianto.”

“What?”

“What did I tell you about calling me sir?”

“I don’t recall.”

“Yes you do.”

“Do I?”

“You claim to know everything so…”

“I do know everything.”

“Then you know what I said.”

“Maybe I just don’t like following orders.”

“That’s not what you said the other night.”

“And you don’t complain about me calling you ‘sir’ at night.”

“Touché.”

“Check. Mate.”

Jack grinned and rubbed his fingers across the back of Ianto’s hand.

“I think we have work to do. Sir.”

Ianto chuckled at Jack’s growl and pulled his hands away.

“You tease Ianto Jones.”

“You like it. Come on. Work to do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always leave your beautiful comments. They make my day and really influence me to keep going with this story. Not much more of it left now. So soak it up!


	10. Chapter 10

The slow hanging light swayed back in time to the heartbeat that no one could hear. His breath was as loud as the shut that rang out only seconds before. Laboured. Panting. His life was ending. But they wouldn’t let him die until he gave them what they wanted. But Number 6 had cared about his friend. And he did what he had to do. 

The needle sank into his arm and fire filled his entire body. Burning. Coursing. Never ending. Bursts of pain filling every cell. They would never stop. 

A woman. Her legs moving around the table, selecting her next prize. 

“You helped him.”

It wasn’t a question. Her words stung like 1000 knives. Yes. He helped him.

“Why?”

He was his friend.

“Friend?”

Yes.

“In this job, we dont have ‘friends’”

He cared about him.

“Why?”

He had had his back.

“When?”

Whenever he had needed him.

“Where had he gone?”

Nothing. He didn’t know. Number 8 had never told him to keep him safe. They were friends. And friends died for each other in this job.”

“You always were weak.”

Yes.

“Just like him.”

Yes.

Number 4 moved closer to him, here face so close he could feel the breath in puffs on his lips.

“I won’t ask again 6. Where did he go?”

She didn’t wait for an answer. The knife felt fine. It was the blood running down his stomach that creeped him out.

**

Miss Martin liked her tea strong, with two sugars and no messing around. Ianto was good at tea, better at coffee, but still up to the old ladies impossibly high standards. Jack sat   
on the edge of the table, uncomfortably close to the woman, Ianto sat behind on a chair, flicking through a file and sipping his coffee. 

“So…” Ianto began “You are Miss Cecilia Martin, or Mrs Cecilia Dalton-Hall. That correct?”

Miss Martin sipped her tea and nodded curtly.

“Yes it is. I don’t use y husbands name anymore.” 

“Not since he died I see? Why is that Cecilia?”

“He is dead. And I always preferred my last name.”

“Why didn’t you keep it in the first place?”

“It wasn’t the done thing when we got married. The woman took the man’s name, and she dealt with it. Are you married?”

Ianto smiled and shook his head, his eyes shifting for barely a second to Jack.

“No I’m not.”

“You want to be?”

Jack adjusted on his seat, staying silent.

“I don’t really know.”

“Well. Let me tell you something boy. What are you 25?”

“24.”

“Well, when you get married you will learn something pretty damn quickly. Marriage is teamwork. And if you don’t stay on each other’s team, you will break pretty damn soon. I didn’t approve of what Nelson did for a living, nor did I want to be a part of it. But it was important to him and I wanted to stay on his team.”

Ianto took a deep breath and leaned forward, resting his hands on the table.

“I see you were admitted to the ER on a number of occasions in the 90s. What happened?”

“I am very clumsy.”

Jack laughed. And Ianto gave him a pointed look.

“No. I don’t think you understand what I’m asking. Did Nelson ever hurt you Cecilia?”

“No. he never hurt me.”

“Cecilia. He’s dead. He can’t hurt you now.” She said nothing. Ianto opened the next file page and began reading. “December 1991, 4 broken ribs and a minor concussion. April   
1992, a black eye, bruises around the neck and shoulders and signs of a possible sexual assault. November 1993 two broken fingers and-“

“Okay stop. Stop….”

Ianto closed the file. Jack stood from the edge of the table and walked to behind where Ianto was sitting.

“Just tell us what happened? And why are you still protecting him?” Jack said.

Cecilia sipped her tea and wiped a tear away from her wrinkled skin. 

“I wanted children. Someone for me to love and for me to raise, so that my… so that my legacy would continue past my life time. So that I might have done something worthwhile.   
Nelson didn’t want kids. We were only young when we go married and he was just starting climb the ranks with UNIT. Every night there were meetings and contracts and he could never tell me about it. I knew pretty early on that we wouldn’t be together for very long. So I tried to leave. I had a bag packed and everything… then he came home with the biggest smile on his face…”

“What year was this?” Jack asked?

“1985…”

Ianto and Jack shared a look.

“Anyway. He came home looked brighter than I had seen him in months. He told me to dress nice, we went out for dinner. We chatted for hours and I really thought we might be able to make it work. We came home and we made love…”

More tears began coming down her face.

“It was so good… for months we were stronger than ever. Then one night he told me about Jade Heart. He told me about Captain Jack Harkness and the Twelve. He told me everything. I was shocked, I mean, what was I supposed to say to that? I was ready to leave again but then… then he grabbed my arm and said that when this was all done, he would be ready… ready to start a family. After two years nothing had happened and I was ready to give up. Until one night he came home looking like he was going to kill me. He hit for the first time that night… then he sat me down, holding a napkin to my face, and game me the key to the box. He told me no one could ever find it, and that it was to be buried with him. I said yes. From then on I became official communications liaison with the Twelve for whenever he needed it. If I brought up a family or kids he just kept saying not until the job was done. By the time I hit 40 I had just about given up on the idea of having a real family. All throughout the 90s he got worse, more planning, more anger… anger at me and the world. In 98 he was sent out on an international mission and got killed in action. I can’t say I was too hurt. But I made a promise.”

She looked Jack dead in the eyes.

“And I don’t break promises. For the next 10 years I kept the key safe, until your agents came and took it from me.”

Ianto leaned back fully and turned to Jack.

“I understand that Miss Martin. But we have a source that tells us you have been communicating with the Twelve ever since, and gave them a new brief providing I was captured.   
That true?”

Cecilia looked down. Ianto tapped the table and she looked at him.

“We just want to know why Cecilia.”

“The truth agent? What even is true anymore? I spent my life loving a criminal…”

“Is that why? Because you love him?” Jack spat out.

“I did as I was told. That’s all. It was in the files Nelson left me before he died. I did as he asked. A final goodbye if you like.”

Jack nodded to Ianto, who stood, collected he two empty mugs and left. He sat in Ianto’s empty chair and said softly.

“You helped a man who treated you like that to try and destroy potentially 100s of lives. You never reported him and even in death you are still protecting him. I don’t believe for   
one second that this is about love. What does he have over you?” 

Miss Martin looked down again, playing with a loose thread on her knitted jumper.

“It’s not in the records because Nelson removed it.”

“What isn’t?”

“In 1992 I got pregnant with a girl. Hannah. After she was born he took her away. Placed her up for adoption I think. I don’t know. He told me that if he helped me then he would   
tell me where she was. He died and I never knew.”

“Then why did you keep helping him after he died?”

Cecilia started crying again.

“I guess I had hoped that after all this time I might find something, a document, anything, that might help me find her….”

Jack nodded and silently left the room.

**

Gwen sat on the edge of the sofa, watching as Luca typed on one computer and Tosh typed on another. Ianto was handing out coffees and humming Luciano. Owen was ordering Pizza down the phone for dinner and Jack was standing by Tosh’s desk, giving her search parameters for Cecilia’s daughter. 

“She would be late teens by now, put up for adoption in late of 93. Anywhere in the UK area, Nelson would have wanted her close for blackmail purposes.”

Tosh typed and Luca kept on with the location of number 11. It was proving to be a harder task than they had first hoped. Gwen was at a loss. That poor woman. Used, abused, and she kept doing it all for her daughter. The daughter who might be dead for all they knew.

Ianto sat down next to her and yawned. He looked at him and smiled. God, he looked awful. She wondered how many coffees he was drinking per hour just to keep himself moving. Gwen was certainly feeling the burn of the past fortnight with little to no sleep, she didn’t know how Ianto did it. He was their general support manager, but also field agent, also archivist and cleaner, and all that in addition to keeping the team u ad running with food, drink and emotional support. He looked at her and smiled, a smile she returned. 

Sighing she gently took his hand, and in a moment of silent communication, he held hers too.

“I’ve got her!” Tosh shouted. “Hannah Partridge! She was adopted in 1993 by a Mr Sam Partridge and his then partner, now husband Carl Partridge. She is 17 years old, goes to a Sixth Form where she is studying Art, Photography, Maths and English Literature. She has a boyfriend called George who likes to buy her jewellery that he apparently can’t afford according to their Facebook and twitter. Everything I’m seeing here points to a generally happy and really well adjusted child.”

Jack sighed and grinned.

“That is the first bit of good news I have heard all day. Should we tell her?”

Ianto sat up.

“We have to. She has been searching her whole life and we found her in a matter of minutes. She deserves to know.”

Jack nodded and grabbed the printed file, leaving and heading down to the interrogation room, where Miss Martin was still crying. 

**

Luca sat at the desk, sipping the greatest cup of coffee he had ever had and pondering this algorithm. He had set it so that if Number 11’s tracker came within 30 metres of any of the base entrances, they would know about it immediately. The captain had liked the idea and had therefore insisted that each member of the team be armed at all times, including Luca. The young man glanced down to the autopsy bay. Jack had instructed Owen to work see if any antidote could be made for the poison they found in the vials. The Doctor looked like he was working hard so Luca stayed put. Spinning again on his chair he saw Tosh clicking about on her mobile device. Gwen was still on the sofa, she looked tired. Luca didn’t know where Ianto was, he liked him though. He was easy to talk to and made a great cup of coffee. 

Sighing, Luca turned back to his computer and pressed enter to scan the CCTV again. Suddenly a large alarm filled the room and everyone turned to him. Jack bounded up the stairs from the interrogation room and shouted.

“What the hell is that?”

Luca was typing. Oh no. He spun and started at his new team mates.

“He’s here.”

**

The streets of Cardiff were starting to darken as the hooded man made his way through the city. He had been camped in an abandoned warehouse for 2 days, but now he knew it was time. With no word from the Twelve on what his orders now were, he had no choice but to follow his original ones. Grabbed his bag and the 5 vials he walked onwards and never looked back. 

The Torchwood base was a 15 minute walk and he had plenty of time to get in and get out before he would even know he was there. He had one advantage over them. They didn’t know about him.

Or so he thought.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I know its been a few weeks, and I'm very sorry but I've been doing exams and what not. I only have one left now! Finished with school in like 3 days. Scary times ;) Anyyway, I am so happy I got this chapter up when I did, I thought it was gonna be another week or two. But I powered through and stayed up last night to get it done. So please enjoy!

“What the hell was that?”

Luca was typing, Oh no. He spun and stared at his new team mates.

“He’s here.”

Jack held a panicked look in his eyes as he ran back towards where Miss Martin was sat.

“Jack? What’s going on? What was that alarm? What about my daughter, you just started talking!”

“I’m sorry Cecilia, we have a security breech, I need to take you downstairs and keep you safe. We will finish this conversation when this is all over, you hear me?”

Miss Martin nodded and followed Jack as they winded down to the vaults. Jack put her in one furthest away from the base and locked the door tight. He gave her a reassuring smile and left her there.

When he came back up to the hub, Ianto was handing out guns and listening to wen as he gave everyone orders.

“Tosh, Ianto you take centre with Jack. Gwen with me up top. Luca you need to get into Jack’s office. You don’t come out until we need you. Jack that okay?”

Jack nodded.

“Sounds good. Let’s go team.”

Suddenly, the door leading from the lower levels bust open and number 11 strode in holding a small dart gun. He saw Ianto first and aimed the dart towards him, Jack, seeing this, pushed Ianto out of the way, causing them both to fall into a heap on the gangway.

Tosh was fighting centre on her own. She tried to get a clear shot, but Number 11 was moving so quick she could barely see him. Before she knew it the darts were being aimed at her. She closed her eyes and shot blindly, hearing it go wide, she shot 4 more times, fully expecting to feel the prick of a dart in her neck. But it never came. She heard a shot from a gun that wasn’t hers and peeked an eye open. Number 11 was laying on the ground, a wound in his lower abdomen bleeding. Tosh looked up, and saw Owen, his gun smoking a little and his smile beaming throughout the whole hub.

*

A low swinging light bothered Number 11, it was casting eerie shadows on the walls and the brightness hurt his eyes. He was holding his stomach, it still aches despite the large number of pain medications the doctor had given him. More than anything he just wished he could go home…. Wherever that was.

2 men came down the stairs, one holding a cup of coffee and one holding a clipboard. The man with the coffee gently placed it down, number 11 noted the way his braces moved away from his body when he bent over. The man with the clipboard was wearing a sharp suit, and went to stand at the back of the room. The other man sat down.

“So… Number 11. You have another name we could call you for ease? What was your name before all this?”

Number 11 adjusted on his seat and looked down.

“Please?”

He looked up and swallowed hard.

“They called me Neil.”

“Neil?”

“My family… liked human names, were obsessed with earth…”

“Right. Anyway, Neil. We need some information.”

At this, the man in the suit’s smile got dangerous and dark.

*

Owen was sat on the sofa, his eyes closed but not sleeping. Gwen was down with Mis Martin, explaining the situation with her daughter. Tosh and Luca were at the computers, figuring out how Number 11 could have got past security.

“How long you think we got before we can leave?”

Tosh hummed, not looking away from her work. Owen looked at his watch.

“11pm on a Tuesday afternoon. It’s been five days of this bloody case. How can so much have happened in 5 days?”

Toshiko laughed and spun her chair round.

“Im hoping that Jack gives us a bloody week off after this past month. I’ve seen more of the hub than I have my flat, more than outside for Christ’s sake!”

Owen leaned forward and looked to the side.

“You know, when you think about it, it’s been longer than 5 days. Cus we were doing all those night drives looking for evidence and envelopes and bloody who knows what else. To be honest im surprised Ianto hasn’t passed out yet. Stupid bugger s’been chasing those signals for like 3 weeks.”

Tosh sucked on the end of her pen and hummed again.

“What do you think they are asking Number 11?”

Owen shrugged and closed his eyes again.

“Who cares? I just want to go to sleep, and for once not be woken up by Jack Harkness.”

*

Jack was sweating, the level of questioning that this guy was able to withstand was tiring him out. All he wanted was answers. Jack was also mad at Ianto, it looked like he was doing nothing but tapping on his pda. Jack paces around the small room, closing his eyes. Suddenly Ianto touched his arm.

“You mind?”

Jack shrugged and slowly slinked away upstairs after Ianto’s pointed look. Ianto took the seat in front of Neil and smiled a little bit.

“Now listen mate, I’m trying here… All my interview training and years of this have set me up to try and make a connection with you, to implement this trust between us. Honestly? I can’t, not with you. You’re a cold blooded murderer. You attacked my friends, killed an innocent man…. You work for an assassin’s organisation and who knows how high your body count is… I can’t look at you and say that I could treat you like a decent person. So instead… when Jack comes back in here after I leave, you will tell him whatever he wants. Because even though you are off most records, I happen to have the ones you are on. And I know about your mother. A human. No wonder she named you what she did. You are a cross species. Not only would you be killed for that In the Twelve, but you would be experimented on here. And just to top it all off, I know exactly where your mum is.”

At Neil’s panicked expression Ianto raised a hand.

“Now don’t worry, she won’t get hurt, and neither will you… as long as you tell Jack everything he wants to know. Just so we’re clear, that is a threat. No need to reply, I’ve said all I need to.”

Ianto got up from his chair and walked upstairs into Jack’s office.

“I take it you got something?”

Ianto shook his head.

“No, that’s up to you. I just weakened him a bit. He’ll talk now. Ask him whatever, just make sure we can end this whole thing.”

*

Jack slowly entered the interview room once again. He was thinking about what Ianto said. ‘Just make sure we can end this…’

God knows Jack was tired, so was Ianto, and so was his whole team. It had been a long month, a long case… and maybe there would be a way to end it quickly…

Jack sat in the chair and leaned forward.

“I only want one thing from you.”

Neil shrugged.

“I want the coordination codes for the Twelve ship, and a stabilisation mechanism for my teleport.”

Neil’s eyes were wide and he swallowed down on the growing lump in his throat.

“What are you going to do?”

Jack’s smile was a ghost.

“End this.”

**

Jack’s footsteps running into his office made the rest of the team turn round in shock.

“What’s all that racket boss?” Owen called, getting up from the sofa and strolling into the office.

Ianto and Tosh followed, Gwen still downstairs.

“Jack?”

Jack was grabbing his coat and tapping at his vortex manipulator.

“Jack? What are you doing? What did he say?”

Jack pushed past Ianto and unlocked the armoury. He pulled out a medium size sphere and put it in his pocket. Ianto saw this.

“Jack…. What are you doing with that? Where are you going?”

Jack turned to look at them for the first time.

“I’m sorry… But I’m ending this. Right now.”

Tosh walked up to him.

“What did he say? What did Neil give to you?”

“The coordination’s of the Twelve ship.”

Ianto’s face contorted as he realised what Jack was going to do.

“Jack. You can’t. Please. You will get killed.”

“Not possible.”

“Fine! Flung into space! You will get stuck there. Please Jack don’t do this.”

Jack stared at Ianto, and Ianto stared back.

“I have to.”

They didn’t have time to react. Jack was gone.

Ianto kicked the wall, a dent forming in the plaster.

Owen grabbed his arm.

“What he doing? What did he take from the armoury?”

Ianto ducked his head and screwed his eyes shut.

“He’s bloody…. Taken a bomb out of the… he’s going to blow up the ship with himself inside it…” Ianto pulled out of Owens arms and pushed his way downstairs towards the firing range.

Owen looked at Tosh. Tosh was crying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment and let me know what you thought! Love you all!!


	12. Chapter 12

Jack opened his eyes and found himself in a cupboard. A maintenance cupboard. He cricked his neck and cloaked his device, then he got to work.

**

As Gwen had come back up from talking to Mis Martin, Owen had explained everything to her. She, much like Ianto, had kicked a wall and paced a lot. Owen and Tosh were sitting on the sofa when Ianto came back up from the shooting range the bandage around his hand had blood on it again. Owen tutted as he led Ianto back down to the medical bay.

“Utter tit you are. How old are those stitches? Barely 2 days old… Ianto ‘Always bloody ripping up coffins and shooting guns’ Jones. What am I going to do with you teaboy?”

Ianto shrugged and sat on the autopsy table, Owen looked at his hand, seeing that 2 of the stitches were ripped.

“You’re lucky only two have split, if they all had I would be smacking you on the upside of the head right now.”

Tosh sat with her knees drawn up to her chest willing Jack to suddenly appear right in front of her eyes, but knowing in her heart that he never would. Gwen, who was still pacing, was driving Toshiko mad. As if this day wasn’t bad enough… the last thing any of them needed was a second in command who could barely keep a hold of herself. Luca listened to the silence of the main hub floor and the mumblings of Owen and Ianto down in the autopsy room; and he knew what he had to do. Slipping off the chair he walked unnoticed by the distracted team towards the interrogation room.

**

Jack held an old screwdriver between his teeth as he slid off a wall panel to reveal some wires and a series of lugs, sockets and switches. He grinned around the tool in his mouth, a thousand innuendos springing to his mind. He took the screwdriver and used it to poke through the wires, looking for something in particular he knew he would find on this ship.

He barely smiled when he saw it. He removed his wrist strap, took out a few wires of his own from his coat, and dug the small explosive out of his pocket. This would take awhile….

**

Ianto and Owen shuffled back up to the main floor of the hub, Ianto with fresh stitching and a new bandage and Owen with a grim on his face.

No one spoke.

No one even dared.

Apart from Owen.

“Come on guys, he will be okay. He will be back before we even know it, annoying us, sexually harassing us,” He elbowed Ianto and gave him a sideways smile. “He’ll be back. I’m sure of it. He always comes back.”

Tosh wiped the back of her hand against her nose and sat up a bit, Gwen coming to sit next to her.

“What if he doesn’t Owen? What if he dies up there? Really dies. Like…. For good?”

Owen actually laughed out loud.

“Come on Tosh! We all know that’s bullshit. He can’t die! We’ve all seen it, seen him come back.”

Ianto stayed quiet. His anger at the situation bubbling under his skin, like an impossible itch. He had to scratch. To punch and swear and to yell… yet somehow looking at his team, Gwen quiet, Tosh scared, Owen fiercely trying to convince himself it would all be okay…. He couldn’t force his own anger onto them. Not until it was all over.

**

Luca took the steps down towards the interrogation room, for the first time really seeing number 11. Seeing him in some regular clothes with the tattoo on his face peeking out from behind the cover-up. Number 11 saw him too, and smiled.

“Ahh… number 8 is it? Finally came to say hello…”

“I go by Luca now.”

“Luca? Cute name.”

“Don’t play like you are the one in control not when you have cuffs on.”

Neil laughed.

“Oh sorry, you want me to act all scared in the face of little old Luca. Barely in the 12 for 2 years before you run away…. How sad.”

Luca slammed his hands on the desk.

“I didn’t run. I got out. There is a difference. You will never know it until you feel the same way.”

“What way would that be? Scared? You make me sick!”

“You Bastard!”

“I know things you will never understand. The 12 is my life…. I serve until I die! That is the promise I made, I didn’t run away like a little Bitch!”

The slap surprised them both. Luca’s hand was burning.

“Don’t pretend that they care about you or that you care about them. You are a killer, working for killers.”

“You’re not exactly princess peach now are you?”

“Who?”

“Nothing… I just, you’re not innocent in all this! You’ve killed too, I’ve seen you do it!”

“Yes….” Luca looked down. “And it breaks me more and more each day…. The things I’ve done… the people I’ve killed... Im monster too.”

Luca reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun.

**

Ianto bit into his thumbnail, worrying the edge of it. He felt sick, annoyed, breathlessly annoyed. At Jack, at himself. At the whole bloody day really. He knew Jack, knew that he was strong enough. But some part of Ianto was sure that Jack would never return. That he would simply die and die and die and die a million times over until his luck ran out. He would find a new life, a new someone to love. And quickly. Surely. He would forget Ianto. Forget torchwood and forget Cardiff. He only had a man’s mind, and something would have to give eventually.

Gwen shifted next to him on the sofa and put her head on his shoulder. Ianto looked up to where Owen was sat at his desk. He had given up pacing and trying to be captain positive. Now he just looked as scared as the rest of them.

“Shouldn’t we be doing something?” Gwen asked from Ianto’s shoulder. “Running scans or… or traces or beating information out of number 11?”

Ianto sighed.

“There is no point. We know where he is, what he is doing. We have no way of getting to him. We are literally doing all we can do. Which is nothing.”

Gwen sniffed and Ianto was pretty sure she way crying. He breathed heavily and pushed back his hair.

“Nothing…”

**

Jack had his head in a wall. Once he found the correct wires and sockets it was mostly a case of just moving it all around a bit. He knew what he was doing, it was just a long process. He was wasting time he certainly didn’t have.

Letting out a small triumphant squeak as he felt the switch move and a light turned out, Jack removed his head from the wall and pressed a button on his vortex manipulator.

“Boys and Girls and Other. Are you hearing me?”

He heard his own voice echo outside the door, so he knew he had done it. He was wired himself into the speaker system on the 12 ship and was now talking directly to the 10 member left on it.

“I know you are, so listen very carefully. I’m hidden within your ship, and you most certainly won’t find me, not until it’s too late anyway. You may be wondering why I am here, so I will tell you. I’m about to give you, the Team Of Twelve, a very severe spanking. And not the fun kind I usually give. I’m talking about the back breaking, soul crushing, mind boggling kind that make you about ready to die. You are all killers. Murderers. Basically…. You’re all assholes and I don’t wish to give you the time of day. You’ve terrorised me and my team, and im really not about giving second chances to people who hurt my friends. So this is me, Jack Harkness, ending this, ending you! For good.”

Around the ship the 10 members of the 12 were running, trying to find him. Trying to find Jack Harkness. Suddenly they felt a rumble from the lower levels and as Number 4 stood up from where she had been sitting briefly, she knew what was to happen. She began to scream.

The ship blew up and there would be no survivors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait again, but chapter 13 is almost done so will be going up within the next 2-3 days. its very nearly at the end now, only a couple of chapters left so please, please leave me a comment and perhaps say what you think is going to happen in the last few chapters. Hope you are all well


	13. Chapter 13

Jack stabbed at his vortex manipulator, he could feel the heat of the explosion making its way through the ship clawing at his back, trying to claim in, daring to take him alive.

Desperately he tries to find the button, still running and running and running…..

Suddenly his feet lifted from beneath him.

Space became nothing and everything all once and the void around him was all consuming, the silence deafening, blood rushing in his ears and in his veins and in his heart.

He felt it until there was nothing left, his heart thumping in his ears and one singular thought.

Home.

**

Ianto checked his watch for the 4th time in 10 minutes. 20 past one in the morning. Jack had been gone for a little over 2 hours and they were all beginning to lose hope. Gwen had taken Miss Martin to one of their bedsits for the night until they took her home tomorrow and was just coming back in through the cog door when another alarm sounded. Tosh jumped up to her computer and started typing. Owen came up from Autopsy and looked over her shoulder. His eyes darted back to Gwen and Ianto.

“Proximity alarm. Someone just transported into the vaults. No prizes for guessing who…”

**

Jack landed face first on a hard surface. Not his most graceful landing but certainly not his worst either. He sat up slowly and cricked his neck, patting slowly down his body to search for pains or injuries. He found nothing but a slight burn on the arm on his coat… Ianto would not be happy.

He eased himself up and slowly started walking back to the main hub. It took him awhile but as he came up from the vaults he saw 4 angry looking faces standing at Tosh’s station.

He laughed awkwardly.

“Hey kids…. Miss me?”

Barely a second passed before they were all hugging. Ianto, Tosh, Gwen and Owen all wrapped around Jack in a massive hug. Gwen pulled back a little and smacked in on the upside of the head.

“You bloody idiot. You could have died in space and we never would have known.”

Jack rubbed his head and leaned against the rail.

“I’m far too good for that Gwen, do give me some credit… I always knew I’d be able to get out.”

He glanced at Ianto, who had yet to say a word. Owen snickered and patted Jack’s arm.

“Hate to say it boss, ‘cus I feel you. But… you ain’t getting laid for at least a… week, right Ianto?”

Ianto raised an eyebrow and nodded to Owen, who chuckled again.

“And you’re also on decaf.”

The 5 of them laughed together, Jack somewhat nervously, until their laughter was interrupted by the sound of a gunshot coming from the interrogation room.

**

Jack rushed in, his Webley raised, Owen and Ianto followed with their own guns trained.

“What’s going on…?” Jack cut himself off when he saw it.

Number 11 lying stone dead on the floor with a bullet hole through his forehead.

And Luca stood in the corner, his hand shaking as it still held the gun.

Jack edged forward.

“Luca? Hey… what happened?”

“He…. After everything he did, has done… To you. To other people.” His voice cracked. “He didn’t deserve to live…”

Luca shook his head, tears falling endlessly out of his eyes as he raised the gun to his own chin.

“And neither do I.”

Jack acted fast, shooting Luca in the arm so he dropped his gun before he could kill himself. Owen ran and caught Luca as he fell, still crying. Ianto moved next to them and helped Owen apply pressure to the wound.

Jack leaned down and carded his fingers through Luca’s hair.

“You don’t deserve to die Luca… And even if you did, it’s not your decision to make.”

Owen takes Luca out of the interrogation room and towards the autopsy to patch him up, leaving Jack and Ianto alone. Jack looked down at Number 11’s dead body, then glanced to the ceiling. He sighed and smiled softly at Ianto.

“It’s over.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that that was a little on the short side, Next time will be longer and........ and the LAST CHAPTER!  
> I know, I cannot believe it either, one chapter left. It's crazy. I hope you have enjoyed this story thus far and will continue to enjoy the last instalment.  
> much love


	14. The End

It was a surprisingly calm day, the air moved through the trees and everything seemed… at peace. The roads were empty, strangely empty for a late Wednesday afternoon. It had taken them only a few hours to get to London from Cardiff.

Ianto pushed open his door and walked to open Miss Martin’s for her. When he turned Jack was looking at him with an odd smile on his face.

“What’s the house number?”

Jack asked, looking down the street.

“37, so…. Left here.”

The three of them walked in silence, Miss Martin was knotting her fingers and Ianto could see her shaking. They reached the house.

“I’ll knock,” Ianto said, doing so.

It took a few seconds before the door opened. A middle aged man in a shirt and blazer opened the door.

“Yes?” He said.

Ianto coughed politely.

“Hello, my name is Ianto Jones. Are you Sam Partridge?”

“Carl, my husband is Sam. How may I help you?”

“We may have spoken on the phone, I rang about Hannah’s birth mother.”

A look of realisation appeared on Carl’s face.

“Oh my God yes, I’m so sorry! Hannah is upstairs, please come through.”

Ianto, Jack and Miss Martin sat on a comfortable sofa in the living room as Sam came in and shook their hands.

“Hannah is on her way down. Cecilia I am so glad you came and found us, we always wanted Hannah to know her real parents, as did she. She is nervous.”

Miss Martin nodded and swallowed hard, Unable to talk.

As they continued to make quiet conversation, the door to the lounge opened and a young woman entered. She was around 17 years old, wearing an old knitted cardigan and fuzzy slippers. Her hair was pulled back behind her ears and she looked shy… and scared.

As fast as Miss Martin could on her old legs, she raced to her daughter and held her tightly in her arms. Hannah grabbed hold of her mother and tightly grasped the back of her coat. They were both crying.

Ianto looked at Jack, whose eyes were beginning to water, and took his hand. Jack smiled.

“They got their happy ending.”

**

The next evening Jack, Ianto, Toshiko, Owen, Gwen and Luca were all sat in a corner booth of the local pub. Jack had told them all the story of Miss Martin and her daughter being reunited which had certainly made for a happy start to the night. But now discussion turned to the past weeks work. Luca looked awkward, his arm still in a sling.

“So what happens to me now? I’m the only one left… I can’t stay here after everything that’s happened, everything I did?”

Jack, Ianto and Tosh exchanged a look.

“What?”

Jack smiled.

“You can. If you want that is. Toshiko and Ianto spent the day creating a life for you, a flat in Grangetown, a history, an identity, complete backstory from the minute you were born to right this second.” Jack gestured to Tosh who took a file out of her bag.

“Name, Luca Jones, born in London at 12:32 on the 12 of July 1985. You moved to Cardiff 3 years ago following the death of both of your parents in a terrible car crash. You’ve been working with a fake paper company as an accountant, a shadow company Torchwood owns, so we can provide you with references and data when you apply for a job. You have a whole life here and Gwen has the keys to your flat. She and Rhys are going to help you move in tomorrow.”

Luca looked like he was about to cry. Jack patted him on his shoulder.

“We could also use you occasionally, to help us and consult on cases. A freelancer if you like. Ianto has put you on the payroll.”

Luca stuttered.

“I don’t understand… why? I’m, I’m a killer… I killed a man 2 days ago, you should kill me, and you should be exiling me, taking me to the shadow proclamation… why?”

Jack smiled softly.

“I’m a big fan of giving people second chances, and after this past week, I think you deserve one. It’s a thank you for helping us stop all this.”

Luca thanked them all profusely and took another drink of his lager. He sat back and simply… smiled.

Owen took a large drink of his beer.

“So what about Jade Heart then? And UNIT? All those lives affected by it all, what do we do?”

Ianto smiled.

“I took the liberty of destroying all the files on Jade Heart. All of it is gone, communication logs, the videos, the payments. As far as the paperwork is concerned, Nelson Dalton-Hall was an average UNIT general who was killed in action a few years ago. He was involved in nothing other than what he was told to do. It never happened, all of it, gone…”

Tosh sipped her wine.

“So it really is all over? She said.

“Indeed it is,” Ianto replied, taking her hand.

Jack lifted his pint, actually of beer this time, and his smile warmed the whole pub.

“Miss Martin reunited with her daughter, Luca here is free of his past, the Team of Twelve is no more, the punishments have been dealt and thankfully none of us are dead. I would call that a job well done!”

They all cheered to that and clinked their glasses. Gwen looked around at all of them.

“So what do we do now?”

They all looked and Jack, and Jack grinned.

“Now…. Now we rest. Let the world take care of itself for a minute.”

And that’s exactly what they did.

**

Tosh pulled the covers up over her body and sank into her bed. She triple checked rift activity for the next few days and thankfully it was all quiet. It seemed that after a month of constant battles needing to be won, they were finally allowed a break. A long one as well, Thursday to Monday. None of them could quite believe it. Tosh had come home, ordered in her favourite takeaway; she’d watched an hour of tv before climbing under her duvet and letting the soft lull of sleep draw her in. No alarms set and no one to disturb her. It was truly the best life.

 

Gwen rolled off Rhys and breathed out heavily.

“Bloody hell love, that was amazing.”

Gwen grinned and wrapped the sheet around her chest.

“Oh yeah, we are going to have a pretty active weekend Mr Williams.” She turned to look at him. “God I’ve missed you.”

 

 

Owen Harper opened up his 4th beer of the night and downed half of it before moving away from the fridge. He was thrilled to just be able to chill. No Jack breathing down his neck, no Tosh or Gwen, no Ianto. It would be interesting to see how he would survive without that man’s coffee for a few days. Grinning he sent Ianto a text.

‘Fancy a game of pool tomorrow night? It’s been an age teaboy.’ OH

‘Want your arse kicked again do you? I’ll be there, bring as much money as you want to lose.’ IJ

The reply made him chuckle and throw his phone on the bed, before collapsing next to it and sleeping for the first time in days.

 

Jack Laughed as Ianto showed him the text he got off Owen. Ianto was sat on the counter next to where Jack was preparing their dinner and helping where he needed to, but mostly the younger man was just too exhausted to move.

They were making a stir-fry and had solid plans to start watching a film before falling asleep 10 minutes in. it was what they did, both too tired for anything more active.

They finally had some time together, and they planned to take full advantage… just not tonight.

Jack kissed Ianto softly.

“What was that for?”

Jack laughed.

“For getting us through these past few weeks, for being here and for being just… for being your utterly brilliant self.”

Ianto ducked his head and cupped Jack’s cheek.

“I will always be here for you, for the team. Okay? I’m here.”

Jack nodded and they kissed again, Ianto pulling back this time.

“Now stop being all weird and make me some dinner, I’m starving.”

And that was that, now the 5 unsung heroes of Cardiff city could finally sleep, knowing they had done their jobs and that their people were safe.

The end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's it really, thank you all for sticking with me for the past 4 months, thank you for reading and commenting and just being all round lovely people. I have loved every minute of writing this, and I hope you have liked reading it too. I'm proud of everything here and I will be writing more and more torchwood as the months continue.   
> So I guess, just thank you again and please comment and kudos, you absolutely lovely people x

**Author's Note:**

> Comment and all that, let me know if you want me to continue, I'm looking to do a multi-chapter, but only if people want it. :)


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